As 2010 concludes and a new year waits for us, our minds are naturally pulled into the past, and through to the future.
What did I accomplish this year? What do I hope to accomplish in the coming year?
How to Make a Career Transition to the Nonprofit World
This article was first posted on the New England Job Show blog: http://nejs.org/2010/12/06/career-transition-how-to-make-a-career-transition-to-the-nonprofit-world/
By Leigh Harris
In the corporate world, many of us reach a point where we question financial success while sacrificing personal rewards. Jobs focused solely on money eventually lose appeal. We yearn to make a difference in the world.
Now is the time to bring talents to the nonprofit world.
Before sending out a stellar resume, however, it helps to know what a nonprofit organization expects in their hiring process.
How do you get hired in a nonprofit organization, and give more meaning to your 40 hour work week?
1. Rediscover your passions and values
What is important to you? What gets your heart pumping? Perhaps your child has asthma, and you lie awake some nights worrying about the last trip to emergency. Maybe you are successful in business because as a child you lived from paycheck to paycheck, your mother barely having enough food the last few dinners before payday. Perhaps you are passionate about sports, and understand the mental, health and physical benefits of an active lifestyle.
Write down your passions and values, and which organizations align with them. Ask friends and family what they know about local organizations, and select a few to conduct an information interview.
2. Match your skill set to their goals
When you dedicate your workday to a nonprofit, how will you help the organization meet its goals? Determine how you can offer your skill set to clearly and succinctly meet their objectives and strategic plan. Remember, it isn’t about you and your professional growth, though you will discover your intrinsic needs being met through this work. They want a sincere offer of help, with a professional approach.
Visit the organization’s website or local office. Read their annual reports, which should be publicly available. Understand their mission statement, objectives and goals. What peaks your interest? Dedicated volunteers usually include a board of directors. One of them may be able to give you a personal perspective of the organization. Another may be able to point to gaps in service or staffing positions.
Once you determine how your skill set meets their bottom line, you can approach this job prospect with their best interests in mind. Though this is an effective approach for corporations, it is the only approach for nonprofits.
3. Redesign your resume to highlight relevant unpaid experience
Do you intentionally leave off hobbies and interests in your current resume? While most corporate headhunters recommend this, in the nonprofit world your interests may align with the values of your target organization. Perhaps you volunteer for your child’s Boy Scout (or Girl Scout) camping trip. Your active focus on health and nutrition will benefit the asthma, cancer or sports organization you pursue.
If you actively volunteer or have a passionate interest in line with your target, ensure it is on your resume.
4. Prepare for your interview
Your interview is the key. In the corporate world, your interviewer wants your experience to effect change or assist current leaders with their vision. In the nonprofit world, they want the same and more. They want to hear your passion about their goals, and your intention to stick with them.
If you are at a crossroads in your career, and want to apply your talents to a greater cause, consider the benefits your experience will bring to a nonprofit organization.
About Leigh Harris
Leigh has been a career and personal development coach for 15 years, 5 years in nonprofit organizations. In her spare time she volunteers for nonprofits and in education.
By Leigh Harris
In the corporate world, many of us reach a point where we question financial success while sacrificing personal rewards. Jobs focused solely on money eventually lose appeal. We yearn to make a difference in the world.
Now is the time to bring talents to the nonprofit world.
Before sending out a stellar resume, however, it helps to know what a nonprofit organization expects in their hiring process.
How do you get hired in a nonprofit organization, and give more meaning to your 40 hour work week?
1. Rediscover your passions and values
What is important to you? What gets your heart pumping? Perhaps your child has asthma, and you lie awake some nights worrying about the last trip to emergency. Maybe you are successful in business because as a child you lived from paycheck to paycheck, your mother barely having enough food the last few dinners before payday. Perhaps you are passionate about sports, and understand the mental, health and physical benefits of an active lifestyle.
Write down your passions and values, and which organizations align with them. Ask friends and family what they know about local organizations, and select a few to conduct an information interview.
2. Match your skill set to their goals
When you dedicate your workday to a nonprofit, how will you help the organization meet its goals? Determine how you can offer your skill set to clearly and succinctly meet their objectives and strategic plan. Remember, it isn’t about you and your professional growth, though you will discover your intrinsic needs being met through this work. They want a sincere offer of help, with a professional approach.
Visit the organization’s website or local office. Read their annual reports, which should be publicly available. Understand their mission statement, objectives and goals. What peaks your interest? Dedicated volunteers usually include a board of directors. One of them may be able to give you a personal perspective of the organization. Another may be able to point to gaps in service or staffing positions.
Once you determine how your skill set meets their bottom line, you can approach this job prospect with their best interests in mind. Though this is an effective approach for corporations, it is the only approach for nonprofits.
3. Redesign your resume to highlight relevant unpaid experience
Do you intentionally leave off hobbies and interests in your current resume? While most corporate headhunters recommend this, in the nonprofit world your interests may align with the values of your target organization. Perhaps you volunteer for your child’s Boy Scout (or Girl Scout) camping trip. Your active focus on health and nutrition will benefit the asthma, cancer or sports organization you pursue.
If you actively volunteer or have a passionate interest in line with your target, ensure it is on your resume.
4. Prepare for your interview
Your interview is the key. In the corporate world, your interviewer wants your experience to effect change or assist current leaders with their vision. In the nonprofit world, they want the same and more. They want to hear your passion about their goals, and your intention to stick with them.
If you are at a crossroads in your career, and want to apply your talents to a greater cause, consider the benefits your experience will bring to a nonprofit organization.
About Leigh Harris
Leigh has been a career and personal development coach for 15 years, 5 years in nonprofit organizations. In her spare time she volunteers for nonprofits and in education.
Intentional Conscious Parenting: Appreciation Jars For Kids
This idea is so simple, yet will create a permanent positive impression for a child. Fill the jar with things you love about your child and give it as a gift. See the details here:
Intentional Conscious Parenting: Appreciation Jars For Kids
Intentional Conscious Parenting: Appreciation Jars For Kids
Plan for the future so you can be present for the holidays
As special holiday events approach, preparation is critical to enjoy each day more fully. Create a scheduled meeting time just for you. When you sit down to write your plan, allow your mind to wander forward to the time the event will occur. Then when you get together with others for celebration or further preparation, your mind doesn't need to jump forward anymore. It has done that work. Instead it will remain present to enjoy your current activities. And if you follow this idea at work, you will be more involved in the discussion.
Another benefit? The memories of your special event will remain more vivid in your mind. Did you know your memory relies on where your mind is? If it is constantly distracted by unfinished planning, jumping to future or into the past, it won’t be present enough to remember key moments. Time will literally pass you by, while you are somewhere else (at least in your mind).
So give yourself a gift. There is time to plan; There are moments to enjoy. Keep them separate.
TSA X-Ray Backscatter Body Scanner: Not Enough Safety Research
This blog was written by Jason Bell, a molecular biologist and biophysicist. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Steve Kowalczykowski's lab at the University of California, Davis.
His review of the TSA scanner raises concerns. He says, "I fear that inadequate safety evaluation of these machines could unduly expose my family (and myself) to levels of radiation that might be harmful should this high familial cancer rate in fact be hereditary."
Read more:
Review of the TSA X-Ray Backscatter Body Scanner: Hide Your Kids! Hide your Wife!
His review of the TSA scanner raises concerns. He says, "I fear that inadequate safety evaluation of these machines could unduly expose my family (and myself) to levels of radiation that might be harmful should this high familial cancer rate in fact be hereditary."
Read more:
Review of the TSA X-Ray Backscatter Body Scanner: Hide Your Kids! Hide your Wife!
Small Gestures Make a Big Difference
When I was 10 or 11 years old, our family spent many Sunday afternoons skating at the local ice rink. My sister, brother and I took lessons, and then we would skate during the public skate.
While my siblings skated and chatted with their friends, I circled the ice looking for black flies, helpless, frozen on the ice. I would pick one up in my mitts, enclose it in warmth, and breathe a little warm air into its temporary cave. After a few minutes, I opened my mitts and it would fly away.
Saving flies.
“What’s the point?” I heard. “With millions of black flies, you’re not really making a difference.”
And I didn’t think I could make a difference, at least to other people, when I was young. I remember the cool kids in school. I tried not to notice that some "cool" kids had a way of teasing others. They didn't appear to be malicious, but they left others feeling broken by their words. But how could I make a difference? I was too meek to rush to someone else’s defense.
When someone I knew was being picked on, I felt torn between wanting to help and feeling my own insecurity and need to fit in. Any words that escaped my tightly gripped lips were jumbled in emotions of nervousness, self-consciousness, and pleading to be nice.
I was frozen, a small fly in a big world.
And yet, when I skated alone on the ice, surrounded by children enjoying themselves and smiling, I could pick up a lone cold fly, and with a gentle touch and breath, bring it to life. When I wasn't surrounded by school yard expectations, I found clarity in this small task.
I still felt helpless on the playground. However, growing up I discovered I could make a difference to others. I could help them with small gestures or a gentle touch. This became important in my first few jobs. A smile to restaurant patrons. An extra minute with a lone child at the community center. I may not have been effective on the playground. "Effective" felt momentous to that 11 year old. I wish I knew then what I know now.
What have I learned?
1. Small steps can make the greatest difference. It only takes one step.
2. Changing another person’s day only takes a moment. If we all took a moment to stop and help, imagine how we’d all feel at the end of the day.
3. Those that don’t smile back, or acknowledge the gesture, probably need it the most.
4. If I didn’t make an effort, or take a moment to smile, it would probably go unnoticed in the hundreds of tasks we do, or in the dozens of people we pass by each day. So we lose nothing, whether we try to make someone else’s day or not.
5. If I had known how simple yet transformative a smile could be, I may have shared more smiles on the playground when I was young. A person feeling uncertain in a situation might feel better receiving a smile.
In giving a smile, it isn’t about me. It is about how I’ve left others feeling. We each have a responsibility to do what we can for others. Often, it comes back to us anyways, as good karma tends to do.
6. Sometimes the kooky things children do (like picking up flies) have a purpose, as they sort out how the world works.
What small gesture do you enjoy sharing with others?
While my siblings skated and chatted with their friends, I circled the ice looking for black flies, helpless, frozen on the ice. I would pick one up in my mitts, enclose it in warmth, and breathe a little warm air into its temporary cave. After a few minutes, I opened my mitts and it would fly away.
Saving flies.
“What’s the point?” I heard. “With millions of black flies, you’re not really making a difference.”
I was frozen, a small fly in a big world.
And yet, when I skated alone on the ice, surrounded by children enjoying themselves and smiling, I could pick up a lone cold fly, and with a gentle touch and breath, bring it to life. When I wasn't surrounded by school yard expectations, I found clarity in this small task.
I still felt helpless on the playground. However, growing up I discovered I could make a difference to others. I could help them with small gestures or a gentle touch. This became important in my first few jobs. A smile to restaurant patrons. An extra minute with a lone child at the community center. I may not have been effective on the playground. "Effective" felt momentous to that 11 year old. I wish I knew then what I know now.
What have I learned?
1. Small steps can make the greatest difference. It only takes one step.
2. Changing another person’s day only takes a moment. If we all took a moment to stop and help, imagine how we’d all feel at the end of the day.
3. Those that don’t smile back, or acknowledge the gesture, probably need it the most.
4. If I didn’t make an effort, or take a moment to smile, it would probably go unnoticed in the hundreds of tasks we do, or in the dozens of people we pass by each day. So we lose nothing, whether we try to make someone else’s day or not.
5. If I had known how simple yet transformative a smile could be, I may have shared more smiles on the playground when I was young. A person feeling uncertain in a situation might feel better receiving a smile.
In giving a smile, it isn’t about me. It is about how I’ve left others feeling. We each have a responsibility to do what we can for others. Often, it comes back to us anyways, as good karma tends to do.
6. Sometimes the kooky things children do (like picking up flies) have a purpose, as they sort out how the world works.
What small gesture do you enjoy sharing with others?
It Takes a Village
by Ms Margie
I grew up in a small town called Dos Palos. Everyone knew everybody there and that's where I learned it takes a village to raise a child. Back then, neighbors knew their neighbors and the community came together (it still does). You addressed your elders as Mr. or Mrs., minded your manners and respected yourself and others. Their houses became your home and the welcome mat was out. People took the time to say hello, share a smile, ask how you were and wait for an answer.
I found that there wasn't much I could do without my parents finding out because the village was always looking out. It wasn't out of malice or spite, it was out of genuine concern. My mom always said, "whatever you do in the dark will always come to light." I truly believe this came from Dos Palos' village mentality. It made me think twice about the things I chose to get into. The foundation that developed and the friends and families that were made remain today.
I have since moved to a place called Merced. I brought the memories and my own village mentality with me. I never meet a stranger and always share a smile and a kind word.
As a product of the "it takes a village" generation, I knew how grateful my parents were for the various people who were a part of our lives and how big of an asset they were. It wasn't until I became a mother myself that I realized the magnitude of having a village that loved you, cared for you and looked out for you as if they were family. As a parent, it is comforting to know that so many others have my family's best interest in mind and that my children are aware that they are being watched by a village that wants nothing but the best for them.
It didn't keep my children from getting into things just like it didn't stop me but it created a consciousness and a reminder to maintain a certain level of respect because you know that you're part of something bigger than yourself.
I see my village as a protective barrier that shelters me from the storms, embraces me when I need embracing the most, and a constant reminder that we are our brother's keeper. I look out for them and they look out for me. It is a blessing. The difference it makes in my life is immeasurable and priceless.
Life has shown me that it takes a village to raise a child and I'm glad it did. My children and I are better people because of it.
MsH
http://noroutineaboutit.blogspot.com/2010/11/thankful-heart.html
I found that there wasn't much I could do without my parents finding out because the village was always looking out. It wasn't out of malice or spite, it was out of genuine concern. My mom always said, "whatever you do in the dark will always come to light." I truly believe this came from Dos Palos' village mentality. It made me think twice about the things I chose to get into. The foundation that developed and the friends and families that were made remain today.
I have since moved to a place called Merced. I brought the memories and my own village mentality with me. I never meet a stranger and always share a smile and a kind word.
As a product of the "it takes a village" generation, I knew how grateful my parents were for the various people who were a part of our lives and how big of an asset they were. It wasn't until I became a mother myself that I realized the magnitude of having a village that loved you, cared for you and looked out for you as if they were family. As a parent, it is comforting to know that so many others have my family's best interest in mind and that my children are aware that they are being watched by a village that wants nothing but the best for them.
It didn't keep my children from getting into things just like it didn't stop me but it created a consciousness and a reminder to maintain a certain level of respect because you know that you're part of something bigger than yourself.
I see my village as a protective barrier that shelters me from the storms, embraces me when I need embracing the most, and a constant reminder that we are our brother's keeper. I look out for them and they look out for me. It is a blessing. The difference it makes in my life is immeasurable and priceless.
Life has shown me that it takes a village to raise a child and I'm glad it did. My children and I are better people because of it.
MsH
http://noroutineaboutit.blogspot.com/2010/11/thankful-heart.html
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