Gov. Charlie Crist on Friday unveiled the new Florida Gulf Recovery Jobs — www.floridagulfrecoveryjobs.com — website, which allows job seekers to locate and apply for positions created in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

There currently are more than 3,500 positions related to response and recovery efforts, with additional positions posted regularly.

“Immediate access to recovery-related job openings provides Floridians the opportunity to help our state while supporting their families and communities,” said Crist.

The Florida Gulf Recovery Jobs website is a joint venture of the Agency for Workforce Innovation and Workforce Florida Inc., in partnership with the state’s 24 regional work force boards.

Read more: Fla. Gulf Recovery Jobs website launched - Orlando Business Journal

By Sarah Durham

In my book, “Brandraising: How Nonprofits Raise Money and Increase Visibility through Smart Communications” (Jossey-Bass 2010), I outline two tried-and-true marketing concepts most nonprofit staff people have never heard of: positioning and personality, and explain how they can help your fundraising, advocacy, and outreach. But these concepts are useful in other areas beyond external relations, too. For instance, they can help hiring managers and job seekers alike make better matches, thus reducing job dissatisfaction and high turnover rates.

“Positioning” is the big idea you want people to think of when they think of your organization. A day after I’ve read the newsletter or visited the website, attended an event or connected with your organization in some other way, what am I really going to remember? Chances are, it won’t be the names of all your programs- it’ll be something very high-level. Maybe I’ll remember that you do great work helping green up poor neighborhoods. Or that you run a homeless shelter or soup kitchen.

“Personality” is the tone and style with which your organization communicates. Is your organization credible, academic, research-based, and visible, or are you more grassroots, friendly, accessible, local? Both personalities are valid- and there are thousands of attributes you might select to describe your organization besides these. The personality of your organization might, if you managed it deliberately, impact the words you choose as you write communications pieces like newsletters or direct mail, decide if and how to use social media, and more.

But what about using positioning and personality in an HR function? Chances are, if you read the Green Room, you’re either hiring or looking- so let’s look at how these concepts apply to both of those scenarios.

Positioning
It’s a given if you’re hiring that you’re looking for the best possible candidate. But how can you tell if someone’s truly serious about and right for the job they’re applying for?

The most serious applicants will distinguish themselves by communicating the big idea of why they’re the right candidate for the job in several ways. They’re likely to:

Write a cover letter expressing their interest that’s specific to the job and their aptitude for it, not full of generic “I’m really interested” clichés.

Have an ‘objective’ or ‘goal’ on their resume that makes it clear what they’re looking for professionally

Have descriptions of past jobs that define experiences that add up to the goal they’re working toward

If you’re job hunting, give some serious thought to what makes you stand out while remaining authentic. Don’t be afraid to put your career objectives out there- and make a case for why you’re the best candidate that’s specific. Often times, outlining what you aren’t is as distinguishing as saying what you are: why waste time interviewing if the job’s not going to be what you’re looking for anyway?

Personality
Every hiring manager considers how well a job candidate will fit in or work with others. But few consider how the personality of a job candidate might reflect the organization’s personality more broadly or publicly.

For instance, if your nonprofit aims to be diverse, warm, friendly, inclusive, and local, it’d make sense to hire staff who are at least some of those things too. I’ve walked into community-based organizations that pride themselves on serving their communities with kindness and dignity only to be scowled at by a gruff receptionist who doesn’t make eye contact. That’s a good example of a personality disconnect between the organization and the individual in the job.

Similarly, if you’re a job seeker, consider how your personality might relate to or reflect that of the nonprofit you’re interviewing with. If you’re a free spirit who likes to dress casually, and keep flexible hours, perhaps a more corporate culture won’t be the best fit? Look for an organization that feels like home and your odds of being happy there in the long term are probably greater.

For more on positioning and personality, check out “Brandraising” , or join me in conversation in Twitter by using #brandraising or reaching me @BigDuckSarah.

If you enjoyed this article, you should check out Sarah’s new OK Online Training - “Brandraising: Raising Visibility and Money Through Smart Communications“!


About the Author
In 1994, Sarah Durham escaped from the advertising, design and marketing world(s) she’d grown up in and started Big Duck. While she’d learned a lot, it was time to put communications best-practices to work for a better reason: to help nonprofits increase their visibility, raise money, and move the needle on their missions. Today, Big Duck is the leading communications firm that works exclusively with nonprofits. Their clients include local, regional, national and international organizations such as The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, American Jewish World Service, and the New York City Charter School Center.

Sarah is a total nonprofit communications nerd. She was named a top fundraiser under 40 by Fundraising Success Magazine in 2006, and one of the most influential women in technology by Fast Company magazine in 2010. She’s a regular speaker at Association of Fundraising Professionals and Nonprofit Technology Network conferences.

The author of “Brandraising: How Nonprofits Raise Visibility and Money Through Smart Communications” (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2009), Sarah teaches aspiring nonprofit communications nerds at NYU’s Wagner School and at the Athena Center for Women’s Leadership at Barnard College. She regularly gives workshops and webinars to anyone who’ll listen. Sarah Tweets @BigDuckSarah; please join her in conversation there.

By Mark Hrywna

Federal legislation aimed at improving coordination between the nonprofit sector and federal government would establish two new entities on The Hill and compile data on the health of the sector if passed by Congress and signed by the president.

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) has introduced “The Nonprofit Sector and Community Solutions Act” (H.R. 5533), which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; the Committee on Education and Labor, and the Committee on Science and Technology.

The next step is to get bipartisan support for the bill as well as the administration, said Independent Sector (IS) President and CEO Diana Aviv said.

The idea behind the legislation, Aviv said, has been kicking around since she testified before Congress last year, recommending the idea of a Small Business Administration (SBA) for nonprofits. “It’s something we’ve been interested in and been very actively involved in crafting and shaping of it,” she said. “The idea of doing it at this time in this form was the congresswoman’s.”

The measure would increase a presence for the nonprofit sector in government in three critical ways, according to Aviv: produce annual reports and recommendations and convene summits; interagency coordination by being in the White House, similar to the Social Innovation Fund and Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships; and require the Department of Commerce to collect the kind of data it compiles about the for-profit sector and make it available to the nonprofit sector. Data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics would include nonprofits as a distinct category of employer.

“Even though the nonprofit sector plays a critical role in the success of federal, state and local programs, the federal government currently has a minimal relationship with it,” McCollum said. The bill “aims to not only build a strong relationship between the federal government and the nonprofit sector but also give the nonprofit sector a voice to raise concerns and propose solutions to our nation’s challenges,” she said.

The bill would create a bipartisan, 16-member U.S. Council on Nonprofit Organizations and Community Solutions, headed up by an executive director, as well as the Interagency Working Group on Nonprofit Organizations and the Federal Government.

The council would study how the federal government can “work more effectively with nonprofits to achieve better outcomes in addressing national and community challenges.” The working group would provide cabinet members, White House officials and heads of federal agencies “a venue to eliminate conflicting and inconsistent federal policies that relate to nonprofits.”

Members of the working group would include the head of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, head of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), Internal Revenue Service commissioner, and chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the chairman of National Endowment for the Arts, director of the Census and the director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The executive director of the council would earn an annual salary of approximately $160,000, the same level as under secretaries of state and the SBA administrator, among other federal executive positions. Members of the council would be unpaid. Of the 16, five would be appointed by the president, three by the House majority leader, two by the House minority leader, three by the Senate majority leader and two by the Senate minority leader. The chairman of the working group will be a nonvoting member. The proposed bill states that members of the council would have experience or expertise in management, operation or support of nonprofits, social entrepreneurship and innovation, philanthropy, qualitative and quantitative research, or management and operation of businesses.

One existing federal agency would be tasked to compile data on nonprofits and develop metrics for performance, establish reporting requirements, and expand information to better inform Congress on the impacts of nonprofit organizations. The bill sets aside $5 million during Fiscal Year 2011 for the research.

Lee Mason, director of nonprofit speech rights at Washington, D.C.-based OMB Watch, said that at first glace the bill looks like an outstanding piece of legislation. “The process by which they formed this office, and inclusionary practices they use, would be the most important piece” of the legislation, Mason said. “We’re in support anytime relationships between government and nonprofits are very much valued. It raises the value of the nonprofit community and the work that they do throughout the country in serving communities,” he said, putting them on a playfield field of for-profit corporations and “elevating our voice.”

Added Mason: “The greater number of voices that participate in the formation of the office, the more inclusionary it will be.”

The nonprofit sector historically has strong connections with government, in some cases providing almost a third of the sector’s budget. At the same time, nonprofits work with government to hold them accountable or in partnership. In the end, Congress has oversight responsibility of exempt organizations.

The business sector has different vehicles through which to do its work, from the SBA to the Department of Commerce, and it “doesn’t seem to have compromised business,” Aviv said.

Source: Nonprofit Times

According to a new report from the Center for Effective Philanthropy, a significant percentage of nonprofits believe that foundations have provided insufficient communication and little useful help to them in response to the economic downturn.

Based on data from surveys of six thousand grantees, the report, A Time of Need: Nonprofits Report Poor Communication and Little Help From Foundations During Economic Downturn (4 pages, PDF), found that 30 percent of respondents indicated there was no communication from their funders about their own response to the economic downturn. In addition, 22 percent of those that reported receiving communication from a funder indicated that the response was unclear. According to the report, that figure is nearly three times larger than the number of grantees who rate other foundation communications as unclear.

Based on additional analysis of the data, the report’s co-authors recommend that foundations do more to clearly communicate with grantees their own responses to the economic downturn; that they become more involved in helping grantees weigh the changes they need to make in response to the economic downturn; and that they work to build better relationships with grantees, particularly by taking the time to understand the goals and strategies of their grantees.

“These findings are important because, for nonprofits, the effects of the downturn continue,” said Ellie Buteau, vice president for research at CEP and one of the report’s co-authors. “We hope foundations will reflect on how they can best help those they fund through what continue to be challenging times.”

Source: “Foundation Response to Downturn Does Little for Nonprofits.” Center for Effective Philanthropy Press Release 6/14/10.

By Chelle Shell

If you are a job seeker looking for a mid to executive level position in the nonprofit sector you may have started to receive phone calls again from recruiters looking to connect you with organizations currently hiring.

In the last year or so recruiting agencies began to fall to the way-side and many of the smaller firms shut their doors or laid-off the majority of their staff. The demand for the right candidates for the very few open positions was still there, but more importantly, the recruiting budgets for most organizations to pay a recruiter 18-25% of a new hire’s annual salary were cut. We are very slowly starting to see that turn back around and this could be for several reasons:

• Jobs are slowly starting to come back around. With the overwhelming number of job seekers, already trimmed down HR departments and hiring managers are being bombarded with applicants. Recent studies have shown many HR departments are claiming they spend 50-75% of their time on recruiting efforts and desperately need assistance with the vetting process, interviewing and referral / background checks, all of which full service recruiting firms do.
  
• It’s almost unheard of at this point for a recruiter to work on retainer which in good economic times was the general rule of thumb. Now most are working on a contingency basis, meaning if they don’t provide the candidate the organization hires they don’t get paid a dime.
  
• Many recruiters have had to lower their fees. Just like anything else in a tough economy the supply and demand theory comes in to play.

For job seekers, the service of a recruiter is free, but most credible recruiters will ask you to sign an exclusivity contract, stating you won’t work with other recruiters nor will you contact the potential employers they work with on your own. Remember, the recruiter is paid by the organization, not you, so their best interest lies with the organizations they are under contract with. This doesn’t mean they aren’t going to look out for you but they are going to put the best matched candidates in the talent pool for the potential employer to interview.

During your first meeting with your potential recruiter be sure that while they are interviewing you, you are interviewing them and getting answers to your questions. You should make sure the two of you are a match and look at them as a partner because ultimately they are going to represent you.

With all of this being said, I am providing a list of DO’s and DON’TS when working with a recruiter:

DO be open and honest with your recruiter. Not only do they have to be sure they are making a skill set match but they have to know you fit the nonprofit’s culture as well. Both of these are equally important to the potential employer.

DON’T be late or miss meetings or scheduled phone calls with your recruiter. How you behave with the recruiter is how they perceive you will conduct yourself with the employers.

DO keep a log of the jobs you’ve applied to and share them with your recruiter.

After you begin working with your recruiter, DON’T apply to any jobs without speaking to your recruiter first. They may currently have a contract with this organization or they may have worked with them in the past. Once you’ve applied to an organization on your own, your recruiter cannot and will not represent you.

This rule also swings the other way. DON’T let your recruiter submit you to jobs without your prior consent.

DON’T go behind your recruiter’s back and contact the employer directly. All communications with the potential employer should come through your recruiter.

If you are open to relocating, share this with your recruiter. DON’T get wishy-washy with this or your recruiter will know you’re not serious about relocating and will not submit you to out of town job openings.

DON’T discuss or negotiate your salary with the potential employer. This is a big no-no and is to your best interest. The recruiter is getting paid a percentage of your annual salary and they will try and get you the highest salary possible and it takes the pains away from you having to negotiate.

DO stay in close contact with the recruiter and keep them abreast of any communication that takes place between you and a potential employer. The recruiter also needs to know everything that is discussed in your interview as the same day of the interview if not as soon as the meeting concludes.

DO follow your recruiter’s “rules” stated in your signed agreement but know there is nothing they can really do to hold you to this - you have no fees at stake. They can however, refuse to ever work with you again and depending on how hard they network and how long they’ve been in the business they could blackball you in your region and sector.

In conclusion, you can see there is no need to be afraid of working with a recruiter. Most recruiters have type-A personalities so make sure they understand your stipulations from the beginning and you understand theirs. If you DO follow the rules a recruiter can most certainly help you with your job search. If you DON’T, there may be repercussions.


About the Author
Michelle “Chelle” Shell has worked in management for over 14 years in positions ranging from recruitment to public relations. In her current role as Client Development Manager for Opportunity Knocks she assists national nonprofit organizations and recruitment agencies connect with talented, qualified nonprofit professionals and HR management solutions. Chelle is active in her transitioning neighborhood association as well as local tennis associations. She is also a Board Member of ANP, Atlanta Nonprofit Professionals.

For questions and/or comments for Chelle please click on “comments” below and start typing away. Many of you have the same concerns and this will allow you to read what others have to say as well as help the masses. And don’t worry, you don’t have to identify yourself if you would like to remain anonymous.