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| Down below is my list of favorite internet shortcuts to job sites and search firms. This is another area of my site where I'd especially appreciate corrections or suggestions about places to look or recruit, so let me know if you have either! Having not so long ago been on the job hunt myself, I re-arranged these by richness of offerings. See the bottom for a few I have not had time to analyze & describe yet. And I just added a "Death of Manners" rant to my Screeds page. :-) Date / Freshness: these links could have deteriorated some. They are a couple years old, but most times will get you close to the right sub-page within a site. Mea culpa update work is in my queue. |
| General Prospect Research & Screening Tips |
| Screening Employers |
| First off, Guidestar is invaluable in the job search. You must sign up, but it's free, and you can pull a copy of the nonprofit's Form 990 (if they are a 501(c)(3) public charity). From the 990 you can tell what You might also be interested in looking them up on Charity Navigator or Wise Giving Alliance, but frankly I'm a little sick of the sanctimoniousness of these self-appointed watchdogs, I'm not sure they're good for the sector, either. Finally, of course, once you get serious, don't fail to run names of organizations and leaders through Google, Google News, the press (SFGate.com) and Google Groups. Finally, searching on the website of your State for the corporate status can show you some detail about whether the entity is active and in good standing. In California, that site is http://kepler.ss.ca.gov/list.html |
| Job Listing Sites |
| Craigslist |
| http://www.craigslist.org/npo/ As with many parts of life in the Bay Area, Craigslist dominates in this area. And as always, it's fast, and easy to search. In my case, I can search on keyword "finance" and can toggle between San Francisco only, or all Bay Area (or click on the entire Jobs category, use keyword, and click on the "non-profit" box and hope the searcher selected it). When I hire, though, I'm no longer so thrilled with Craigslist because so many applicants dash off their materials with all kinds of errors and typos. Other areas of Craigslist, such as buying and selling things, have begun to attract scammers. Perhaps because of this, it also makes sense to check other sections of Craigslist with keyword "nonprofit" (such as the Finance jobs section in my case); many employers seem to post there and not in nonprofits. |
| YNPN |
| http://www.ynpn.org YNPN, Young Nonprofit Professionals Network, is a great source of hires, I know that much. When I was hiring paralegals in the late 90's, we often found our best candidates here. YNPN has chapters in other cities as well. The YNPN Career Center is searchable by Title, Position Type, Organization Type, and Region. (Note: as of Dec 2009, and Sep 2010 the Career Center page appears broken). |
| Idealist |
| http://www.idealist.org/search/advanced Idealist.org is an international site intended to activate potential applicants and NGO professionals and not just for job searching. They recently made the job searching a little harder to use, but not impossible. The link above gets you to advanced search which offers the usual variables. |
| Opportunity Knocks |
| http://www.opportunitynocs.org/ Back in the day, Opportunity Knocks was called Opportunity NOCs ("Nonprofit Organization Classifieds) and it rocked! (Still does!) It was *the* site for Bay Area nonprofit jobs (and before the web was a newsletter you could subscribe to). It was sponsored by the Management Center, a local C3 "management service organization" like CompassPoint (see my Resources - Technical Assistance page). When Management Center folded, Opportunity NOCs was one of its only viable assets and it sold it to a charity in Georgia which seems to be doing a good job of running it, and developing it as a national site. It now boasts many of the best and most comprehensive listings in California. Searchable by Location (nicely implemented on location), Keywords, Category (org type), Function, and Pay Range(!) (Pay Range doesn't often work because employers are shy of disclosure). |
| Northern California Grantmakers |
| NCG Job Bank Northern California Grantmakers, NCG, is the primary association of grantmakers, both private foundations and public charities. Foundations can be difficult to work for, so do your due diligence! |
| Foundation Center |
| http://fdncenter.org/pnd/jobs/ This service provided by the Foundation Center (libraries in several cities including San Francisco - (see my Resources - Information & Publications page) - is growing and has a nice list of offerings. You know an employer is on the ball with their search when they get their job on here and not just on Craigslist and one of the other usual suspects. Janet Camarena, director of the San Francisco Foundation Center (along with her whole staff), is a nonprofit sector treasure! |
| Chronicle of Philanthropy |
| http://philanthropy.com/jobs/ On my Resources - Information & Publications page, I virtually PRESCRIBE Chronicle of a subscriber (right?), then you'll have no problem accessing these listings, which are only open (I think - cookies and all - they pop right up for me) to subscribers. As one might predict, the positions are skewed towards development, but it's a good list, and national if you're getting itchy about moving. |
| Roberts Enterprise Development Fund |
| http://www.redf.org/careers-redf.htm#redf-oec REDF is part of the new wave of "social venture" funders but is by all accounts very thoughtful and they use their page to post openings not just at REDF but also at the charities they support. |
| Net Impact |
| www.netimpact.org Net Impact works to encourage social responsibility in business. It is a paid-access-only site that I have not accessed, but expect that for a fairly nominal membership fee, you can find for-profit business jobs with organizations that are managing for the "triple bottom line" of social responsibility. |
| CAN - California Association of Nonprofits |
| http://www.canonprofits.org/ I wish that somehow CAN were more robust on these listings, but it's worth a quick check. This is a link to their main page, but it's not hard to find the job seekers listings (at this writing, 4 jobs total). Sad. |
| ASAE (formerly American Society of Association Executives) |
| http://asaenet.jobcontrolcenter.com/search/? ASAE seems to be the new full name of what was once the American Society of Association Executives. This is a good source of Trade Association jobs, which are famous for paying well but serving rather narrow interests (by definition). Searchable by Industry (Org Type), Category (job field), never know, and did I say "pay well?" |
| Community Career Center |
| http://www.nonprofitjobs.org/ I haven't a clue who these folks are, but occasionally this site produces a local job that's not listed anywhere else(!). Searchable by location, member organization (it must be a sort of trade association of nonprofits), primary skill, title, and keyword. |
| Opportunity Finance Network (formerly National Community Capital) |
| http://www.opportunityfinance.net/industry/job_bank.aspx Opportunity Finance Network used to be called National Community Capital Association and I think before that used to be called the National Association of Community Development Loan Funds (branding and re-branding over-fascination?...or am I just living too long?). This is a good site for economic and community development jobs, all over, but often interesting ones in the Bay Area. It is the leading association of Community Development Financial Institutions ("CDFI") so I guess an obsession with branding might bo with the territory. |
| Recruiters |
| Courtney J. Meyer, Menlo Partners Staffing www.mpstaff.com Courtney works across industries, placing finance, H.R. and admin folks of all stripes; she has a good sense of organizational nuance, is seemingly honest, and aware of nonprofit realities. Kreuzberger Associates http://www.kreuzberger.com/services/non_profit.htm finance & accounting searches & temps, not just nonprofit; current searches not shown m/Oppenheim Associates http://moppenheim.com impressive list of "selected" active searches; San Francisco focus Bridges SF http://www.bridgessf.com/contact.html finance & accounting searches & interim, not just nonprofit; current searches not shown Lori Lam, Robert Half International (Oakland Office) www.roberthalf.com, email is firstname.lastname at roberthalf.com insightful Robert Half accounting & finance recruiter with strong interest in nonprofits Commongood Careers http://www.cgcareers.org/findajob/viewjobs/ assortment of nonprofit jobs, some in Bay Area, some East Coast Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group http://www.nonprofitprofessionals.com occasional San Francisco jobs; mostly NE US; good job seeker advice whitepapers Phillips Oppenheim http://www.phillipsoppenheim.com/home.html nonprofit executives; national; current searches not shown used to have a San Francisco office; appears that Mark Oppenheim left under his new name above The 360 Group http://www.360searchgroup.com good representation & reputation among SF funders; pretty good list; very cold responsiveness to me, but perhaps that was my fault. Note: as of 12.29.09 the site is down; it says "temporarily disabled" so I have not removed the listing |
| Government |
| City and County of San Francisco http://www.sfgov.org/site/government_index.asp?id=5988 University of California at San Francisco (San Francisco's largest employer) http://ucsfhr.ucsf.edu/careers/ ABAG - Association of Bay Area Governments http://www.abag.ca.gov/bayarea/commerce/globe/globe.html |
| Specific Interesting Employers |
| NIAC https://www.niac.org/AMSCentral/EmploymentOpportunities.cfm organization and expanding, now formed as "Alliance Member Services" or some such. Alliance for Justice http://www.allianceforjustice.org/about_AFJ/jobs/index.html Alliance for Justice is the voice in Washington for progressive nonprofits and they do some of the best work around (see Resources - Information & Publications page). This links to their own job openings and they in turn link to each of their progressive member organizations. AFJ's California staff has been growing from one to now three or so. |
| Jobs Search - Nonprofit Sector |
| New Job list ideas (thanks be to Ruth Masterson) |
| My dear friend and former cohort Ruth Masterson (now at the Association of Small Foundations on at least an interim basis) provided her own working search list as a supplement. She's on the East Coast and is a nonprofit international policy maven, so these are a little different. I will eventually digest and annotate them. For now it's a raw list with some overlap, and no live links (you'll need to cut and paste or google). I haven't decided if I'll keep the DC-centric sites. LINKS ASAE http://asi.careerhq.org/search/results/ Associated Grantmakers http://www.agmconnect.org/jobs/ Blackbaud http://www.jobsatnonprofits.com Board Source http://www.boardsource.org/AboutUs.asp?ID=25 Chronicle of Philanthropy http://philanthropy.com/jobs/80/ Community Career Center http://www.nonprofitjobs.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.sjob Council on Foundations http://www.cof.org/Network/jobdescriplist.cfm?navItemNumber=2218 Craigslist http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/npo/ Forum of Regional Association of Grantmakers http://www.givingforum.org/about/jobs.html Foundation Center http://fdncenter.org/pnd/jobs/ Idealist.org http://www.idealist.org Independent Sector http://www.independentsector.org/members/joblink.html National Council on Nonprofit Associations http://www.ncna.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=139 Nonprofit Career Network http://www.nonprofitcareer.com/resource/searchdb/searchdb.cfm? Nonprofit Jobs Cooperative http://www.nonprofitjobscoop.org/searchJobs Nonprofit Oyster http://careers.nonprofitoyster.com/c/search.cfm?site_id=78 One World http://us.oneworld.net/job/list/professional//?JobTitle=&CareerSector=11&CountryBasedIn%5B%5D=-1&RestrictPackage=0&Search=Search Opportunity NOCs http://www.opportunityknocks.org Philanthropy Journal Online http://www.philanthropyjournal.org/page15412.cfm Professionals for Nonprofits http://www.nonprofitstaffing.com/search_jobs.asp Urban Institute http://jobs-urban.icims.com/urban_jobs/jobs/candidate/job.jsp?jobid=1309&mode=view Soros Foundations/Open Society http://www.soros.org/about/careers Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers http://www.washingtongrantmakers.org/WG/Employment/Nonprofit/Nonprofit_Index.asp VOLUNTEERING & GENERAL INFO www.EnergizeInc.com - Free information about Volunteerism. Surveys, reports, bibliographies, FAQ and many useful articles. www.ServiceLeader.org - resources for volunteers and those who manage them. Surveys, job lists. Also information about “Virtual Volunteerism” and how to establish a Virtual Volunteerism program. www.VolunteerMatch.org - Enter your zip code and get matched with local Non-Profits who need you. Free for volunteers. www.nvoad.org - National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster can also provide more information on how you can help. Non-Profit Vitual Library - A Vitual Library to help non-profits improve the way they function. Many useful tools from Michigan State University. http://www.yourcareerchoices.com/careerlinks.php?arg=sites |
| Executive Searches.com |
| Executive Searches.com http://www.execsearches.com/exec/default.asp I had this posted under recruiters, below, and with the description "development oriented recruiters' resource," but as of 12.29.09 it looks more like a regular job board serving the nonprofit sector so I moved it up to this section, and as of 9.10 even further up! Decent selection, and some jobs not posted elsewhere. |
| Screening Applicants How to find a good nonprofit bookkeeper? |
| Blue Avocado (see my External Resources / Information page), has published a great, short 21- question Nonprofit Bookkeeping Test to help with hiring and sorting out who really knows the field. What's particularly great about it is that the 'answer key' is framed in terms of where the person being between "staff accountant" and mere "bookkeeper" but some folks equate "accountant" with CPA). (Of course one downside of my posting this, as one waggish colleague of mine writes at the end of his note: >I especially like that this is multiple-choice, which might help weed out folks in a first round. I have a few standard questions that I ask people to get a sense of their level, from basic stuff like accruing an expense and splitting mortgage payments between interest and principal to more advanced stuff like cost allocations and temporarily restricted net assets. But I like that this whips through a lot of topics quickly. Of course, soon every bookkeeper in America will have seen this specific iteration….< And for some of my best searches, for senior positions, I have gotten great use from essay questions to those who make the first "cut," because ability to write clearly and on-demand is part of financial management. This test is not the final or only answer, but is a great way to screen for knowledge about specialized nonprofit accounting theory (and some general accounting theory mixed in). |
| ultimate success in the position, and have articles here for download (with attribution - from various websites): 1. (the best of all three here): Fernando M. Tarnogol's excellent, pithy & concise "The 10 Most Common Job Interview Questions And The Reasons You Should Not Use Them", 2. "The Eight Types of Interview Questions" from some site called CollegeGrad.com that I found through the Google, and for the really geeky of you, what I bet is the underlying research to the above articles: 3. "The Validity of Employment Interviews: A Comprehensive Review and Meta-Analysis," McDaniel et al, Journal of Applied Psychology, 1994. |
| Interviewing is an Art What questions are predictive of actual success once a candidate is hired? |
| Bridgestar (Bridgespan) |
| http://www.bridgestar.org/MyCareerCenter/SearchJobs.aspx This is a project of the recruitment arm of Bridgespan, a relatively new player in the nonprofit world, coming from the bigtime consultancy world (offshoot of Bain and Company). The Bridgespan Group site also contains useful, thoughtful articles on the evolving role of the CFO. |