Tag Archives: millennial advice series

Three Ways to Cultivate Professional Relationships


Posted by ajlovesya

This is the last guest post of my advice series featuring insights from young nonprofit professionals.   Check out the other articles and be sure to subscribe to my blog via email so you never miss a post.

By Guest Blogger Jessica Journey

After graduating from college, figuring out the next steps in your career can be daunting – not to mention exhausting! Searching job boards, requesting informational interviews, drafting cover letters, attending events, calling contacts…

Don’t let your efforts be in vain – invest your time and energy strategically and build your network for the long-term. Take these three steps to cultivate professional relationships with your networking contacts:

Send an email immediately.

  • Most professionals expect quick online communication. As soon as you can get to your smart phone or a computer, send your new contact a friendly message.
  • Keep it simple but personal. Express your gratitude for their time and attention. Be sure to include a specific reference to something you two discussed.
  • BONUS TIP: Still have an old Yahoo or AOL account? It’s time for an update! Get a Gmail account – make the username your name. No numbers in the username. Please.

Follow-up with a handwritten note.

  • Online technology is great, but a handwritten note offers its advantages, too! Your contact will definitely take notice if they receive a small card with a kind note.
  • Especially as young professionals, we need to break down stereotypes about our generation. Sure we enjoy social media, but it’s because we really love people and relationships – a handwritten note shows just that!
  • BONUS TIP: Prepare the envelope with address and stamp before the meeting. That way, you won’t forget to finish the note and drop it in a mailbox. You’ll be so glad that you did!

Connect over social media.

  • The easiest way to keep the conversation going with your new contact is social networking. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn – there are plenty of possibilities.
  • Which network depends on you and what networks you’ve decided to leverage for professional purposes. Maybe you use Facebook for your friends and LinkedIn for your career – so, only connect on LinkedIn.
  • BONUS TIP: Make the request personal. For example, replace the default connection message on LinkedIn with your own personal message. Using the standard language just looks lazy. Period.

Implement the three steps with your networking contacts – whether it be after a quick introduction at an event, a one-on-one coffee conversation, or a formal interview. You’ll be glad you did; your career will benefit from this long-term approach!

What other ways do you follow-up with networking contacts? How do you keep the connection alive and the conversation going past the initial meeting? Please leave a comment with your idea!

Guest Blogger Jessica Journey is a nonprofit professional, thriving in the Indianapolis community. She has more than six years of experience in fundraising and philanthropy. Follow @Jessica_Journey on Twitter and read her blog at www.jessicajourney.com


The New Nonprofit Kid on the Block: Tips on Integrating into a New Community


Posted by ajlovesya

This is the third guest post of my advice series featuring insights from young nonprofit professionals.   Check out the other articles and be sure to subscribe to my blog via email so you never miss a post.

By Guest Blogger Sarah Percoulis

Have you ever considered moving out of the area you live in, but were discouraged? Ever moved to a new city and felt like you knew no one, and you suffered because of it?
As I have lived all around the US, and even in Europe (as a nonprofit professional) – I’ve used these experiences to help others when it comes to moving to “strange” new places. Recently, I presented at the YNPN (Young Nonprofit Professionals Network) National Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan and led a session to hold a frank discussion about the barriers to integrating to a new community. It was a great experience to get feedback from young nonprofit professionals who came from all over the US.  This blog post is a summary of the pointers discussed during the session.

As most nonprofit professionals know, no matter your area of expertise (programs, direct service, finance, etc.) – your personal life is closely intertwined with your work life. And when one decides to relocate due to job or family, it can be a difficult lifestyle change or hard on their professional life when having to create a new network of contacts.

During my YNPN session, I polled the participants and we fine-tuned my tips to help those who are looking to successfully integrate into a new community. These tips are separated into professional and personal tips, which can be interchanged. Of course, these tips are completely dependent on your status and lifestyle (whether you have family in the area, have children, have a shy personality, etc.) – which will ultimately affect on how well you’ll integrate.

Tips for Integrating Professionally:
1. Try to get support at your work to help integrate (if possible). Utilize your supervisor or support staff, and have them make connections for you to meet with community members and nonprofit leaders.
2. If you don’t have support at work – go to professional events on your free time and introduce yourself. Check out your local YNPN chapter or Chamber of Commerce as places to start.

Tips for Integrating Personally:
1. Do your research about the community before you move. If there’s no time to do so beforehand, do it as soon as possible.  What are some popular restaurants?
2. Physical presence is key regardless of city size – it seems so simple, but if people see you often, they’ll be more apt to start a conversation with you.
3. Try local “mom/pop” places for restaurants, coffee, etc., because that is where you can build relationships with locals.
4. Follow local media: Newspapers (especially for events and cultural activities), Blogs, Online News Sources, TV, and Facebook/Twitter.
5. Are you extremely shy for these tips will work? Wait until family or friends visit and go explore the town with them!

Important Side Notes:
1. Each community has its own dynamic. Make sure to reflect on the barriers you will encounter, and decide on how to move ahead based on your observations.  For example, do the people you live with speak a different language?  Maybe you want to take a class or actively try to converse with your neighbors in their language.
2. Remember, relationship building and community integration take time.
3. Go out of your comfort zone. You’ll never know who you’re going to meet.

If you have moved to a new community – what have been your experiences?
Do you agree with these tips? Do you have new ones?
If you haven’t moved but considered doing so, what are you questions?

Please feel free to share your feedback!

Sarah currently works at the Battle Creek Community Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan, serving as the Youth Program Associate. Sarah is passionate about collaboration and innovation, and strives to go deeper into solving the most basic of community issues. She is all about global thinking and grassroots action.

Jump Start Your Nonprofit Career with a Year of Service


Posted by ajlovesya
This is the second guest post of my advice series featuring insights from young nonprofit professionals.   Check out the other articles and be sure to subscribe to my blog via email so you never miss a post.

Guest Blogger Jeff Raderstrong
As the deadline of graduation loomed before me, I was pretty scared. I had no answer to that dreaded question, “What are you going to do next year?”, and I didn’t think I’d get one soon. So, I did what any other self-respecting college senior during the Great Recession would do: I applied to enter a year of service.

And I’m very glad I did. At the time, I was wavering between nonprofit work and journalism as a future career, and figured that while the stock market was still fluctuating, volunteering for a year was easier to pull off than finding a job at a newspaper. What I didn’t know at the time was that doing a year of service, while not an attractive option after spending over $120,000 on a college education, is an excellent way to start one’s nonprofit career.

These year-of-service programs place you, full time, in an entry level position at pretty much any type of nonprofit you can think of, while giving you room, board and a small personal stipend. When I got the packet from my placement organization with all the jobs I could interview for, I was blown away. I could have been a lobbyist at an international advocacy NGO, a legal assistant at a domestic violence organization, or a social media specialist at a relief organization. I have friends volunteering as case workers, home care aids, researchers, volunteer coordinators, grant writers, and tutors. You name it, there’s a year of service position out there you.

There are many options for the college senior or recent grad interested in volunteering for a year in a nonprofit. The religious organizations—AVODAH (Jewish), Lutheran Volunteer Corps, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, and the Mennonite Volunteer Corps—all have a component of intentional living, sustainable living, and spirituality to some degree, although some are less religious than others. (I did the Lutheran Volunteer Corps, and I’m nowhere near Lutheran, nor religious.) In these programs, you’ll be able to choose from a variety of nonprofits to work for.

You can also do City Year, which focuses on school- and community-based initiatives, or Green Corps, which sends people to work on different environmental projects across the country. Of course, there’s also the big one—AmeriCorps—which is government run and will place you in most any kind of nonprofit in any kind of job in any city. There is no community living or spiritual component to AmeriCorps, so if you just want a nonprofit job and nothing else, this is for you. Also, you can apply to AmeriCorps jobs any time, while the other programs operate on academic-year cycles.

I know mostly about domestic US programs, because that’s what I did, but when one looks internationally, there are more programs than you can name, the most well known being the Peace Corps. There are also many teaching year of service programs, like Teach for America (which isn’t technically a year of service, because it’s two years and you get paid at the same level as a normal teacher).

There are quite a few reasons to not commit to a year of service (you can make as little as $80 a month on top of room and board, the house you’ll probably live in isn’t the best, you will probably get the lowest health insurance option available at your work site) but it will provide you with invaluable work experience and jump start your nonprofit career. I see it as trading income for building a resume. I went into my year skeptical of what I would gain, but I came away with tangible skills and experience, and a much better sense of the direction I wanted to go in.

The mentorship from seasoned nonprofit employees is another benefit. Since it was known to my co-workers I would only be at my worksite a year, I could reach out for career advice. I was doing the organization a favor by working for low pay, so my supervisors wanted to help me succeed in return.

In all honesty, the year was difficult at times, and I know I could have had a better working experience. I wasn’t making much money, and I was in an awkward employee-but-not-really-an-employee position at my worksite. Some of my friends had legitimately horrible experiences at their worksites. But, these things happen regardless of if you are a full-time volunteer or not, and even if you aren’t in the nonprofit sector.

I know that I would not be in my current nonprofit job—a job I love—without my year of service. I return to the experiences in my year of service quite frequently and I’m glad I made the frantic decision to apply at the end of my senior year. I’d encourage you to consider doing the same—but try not to be as stressed as I was. It’ll be ok.

What have your experiences been with years of service? Do you think it’s a good way to start a nonprofit career? Are there any programs out there I’m missing that would be good for recent grads to know about?

Jeff Raderstrong is the Communications and Assessment Associate at Venture Philanthropy Partners and the co-founder of the Social Entrepreneurs of Grinnell. He tweets @jraders and blogs at Change Charity.


How to Effectively Communicate Undergraduate Experiences to Land a Nonprofit Job


Posted by ajlovesya

This is the first guest post of my advice series featuring insights from young nonprofit professionals.   Check out the introduction and be sure to subscribe to my blog via email so you never miss a post.

By Guest blogger Nathan Hand

Pomp and circumstance turns into complete anxiety overnight. College is officially behind you and you’ll move to Antarctica before you’ll move back in with your parents. If you’re serious about a career in the nonprofit world, you’ve likely had experience interning or volunteering for an organization – let’s dig in and find which ones are going to get you that job and how best to package it for resume readers!

Step 1

Create a list of volunteering/internship activity you’ve done & super-short descriptions. Your list might look like this.

Walked dogs for Humane Society – Once/week for 6 weeks.
Interned with Oxfam in Bolivia
Tutored local homeless kids every Tuesday for 4 years
Helped old lady cross the street…twice
Picked up trash with my sorority – once for 30 minutes
Team captain for student service trip for tornado relief in Joplin, MO
Student trustee/board member of my University

Step 2

Identify the ‘serious’ experiences that show strong commitment and/or intense learning experience in your area of interest. The rest are important but can be lumped into a ‘volunteering’ section instead of being flushed out like a true ‘position’. In this case, Oxfam, Service team leader, tutoring and student trustee are much better to focus on than the old lady, trash collecting & dog walking. If your list is longer, narrow in on those that demonstrate skills needed for the position or show that you have experience in the issue area. (i.e. If you’re applying to FEMA – focus on the Joplin trip, you might focus on the tutoring if applying for Teach for America, etc.)

Step 3

Write a fuller description of your duties and impact. Quantify it as much as possible and write to ‘wow’ them (without lying).

Example

Student Service Team Captain: Joplin, MO, 2011

Led a one-week intensive service trip experience from concept to fulfillment for 27 University of Houston students and two faculty. Raised $20,000 in cash support and $10,000 in donated supplies. Supervised five-student executive team including chairmen of transportation, construction, health safety, budget and reflection. Project featured in local and university media.

From this simple paragraph, a potential employee can see that you are organized under a tight time-frame, responsive to humanitarian crisis, effective at raising resources and mobilizing people to use them effectively, a strong leader and willing to take risks for the greater good. MUCH better than simply saying “Service trip team leader” in a long list of volunteer activities.

Step 4

After wordsmithing your ‘wow’ descriptions, pick your top 3 and update your LinkedIn profile. Then piece together the right experiences for each job you apply for. There’s no one perfect resume, but every application should include a resume that’s taylor-made for the position you’re applying for!

Step 5

Pack the car, hug mom & dad and hit the road to bask in the glory of your new-found employment!

Nathan Hand has over ten years of nonprofit and fundraising experience at the local, national and international levels. By day, he’s the Vice President of Development at School on Wheels, an organization fighting childhood homelessness in Indianapolis. On the nights and weekends he tweets (@nathan_hand) and writes about nonprofits, fundraising and marketing on his blog.


Advice Series for Recent College Grads Interested in Nonprofit Work


Posted by ajlovesya

As a new batch of college grads enter the work force, many are looking for opportunities to make a difference.  I have had the privilege of not only sharing my experiences but also working closely with young people who are interested in careers in nonprofit work. I often get a flurry of questions on how to network, how to craft a resume, entry level positions…the list goes on and on.

Rather writing advice myself, I’ve asked my fellow young nonprofit professionals to reflect on their experiences and share their insights on how young people can launch their careers in public service.

Starting tomorrow and each Tuesday in June you’ll hear from the following nonprofit rockstars:

  • Nathan Hand, a young nonprofit and fundraising professional in Indianapolis, offers advice on how to select the most compelling moments in your undergrad experience and communicate them effectively to your employer.
  • Sarah Percoulis, the Youth Program Associate at the Battle Creek Community Foundation, shares her wisdom on how to integrate into a new community–this is particularly important as many of us may move to different communities or the work we do requires us to be involved with the people we serve.
  • And Jessica Journey, another young nonprofit professional in Indianapolis, gives shares three tips on the “art of following up.”   How many times have you missed a potential connection because you forgot to follow up?  Jessica makes it easy to correct that mistake.

Make sure you don’t miss a post by subscribing to my blog.  And if you want to see some of my most popular nonprofit career advice for college grads, check out my resources page.