Nonprofit World Offers Jobs, Challenge, Purpose
BY MARY ELLEN SLAYTER
The Washington Post Sunday, October 14, 2007
The nonprofit sector is one that both private sector and government workers can find mysterious. They like the idea of putting their skills to use for the greater good of society but aren’t quite sure how to make it happen.
Change Your Career: Transitioning to the Nonprofit Sector, by Laura Gassner Otting, answers that question (Kaplan Publishing, $16.95). It challenges myths about the nonprofit hiring process, helps workers weigh the pros and cons of nonprofit jobs and outlines a strategy for breaking into the sector. Stories from professionals are sprinkled throughout. (Kaplan Publishing is a division of The Washington Post Co.)
Her advice is sound. Besides her own experiences working in the nonprofit and political worlds, Gassner Otting is president of the Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group, a search firm based in Newton, Mass., that she founded.
The book breaks down some of the most common myths about working in the nonprofit sector.
The biggest is that you’ll starve if you take a nonprofit job. It depends on the work you do and, more importantly, the work the organization does. People often don’t realize how diverse nonprofits are. The broad category includes schools, hospitals and trade groups, as well as activist and cultural organizations.
Organizations fighting for civil rights, human rights, women’s rights or animal rights tend to pay less, Gassner Otting points out. “In fact, it’s not uncommon to find nonprofits that fight against poverty paying their own employees impossibly low salaries,” she writes.
But it doesn’t have to be like this, Gassner Otting says. For better pay and benefits, look to research institutions, foundations, colleges and universities. Bigger organizations tend to pay better than smaller ones. And people with specialized skills, such as in finance or information technology, earn more than those working the phone banks.
Gassner Otting cautions workers about thinking that nonprofit work represents a way to escape hard work and office politics. If anything, the nonprofit world can be trickier to navigate because so much of the reward is emotional, not monetary. The lofty goals of the organization can quickly lead to burnout.
“This great purpose often places a heavy weight — and even, sometimes, a chip — on the shoulders of those doing the work,” she writes. And even if you maintain a positive attitude, chances are someone in your office won’t.
