Posts Tagged ‘Career’

Having worked only in nonprofits, I recognize many of the advantages and disadvantages of this sector.  Below is an outline of a few of the benefits and disadvantages of working for a nonprofit.

Advantages

• The ability to do meaningful work and to create positive change for a community or a cause. While some may call one an idealist, it’s nice to have a heartfelt reason to get out of bed on the coldest of Chicago mornings.
• An opportunity to wear “several hats” due to understaffing. For instance, when our staff was downsized I was asked to take over writing grant reports and requests, which served as an important learning opportunity.
• A greater organizational culture of like-minded people. While not always existent, many nonprofits bring together like-minded people, allowing a safe space to share your opinions on matters. This makes for a much more enjoyable lunch hour if you can talk about the news together without disagreeing on every subject. Also, such an environment can inspire teamwork and collaboration instead of internal competition.
• Fancy titles. In order to make up for lower wages, many nonprofits will provide you with a super fancy title that can assist you down the road, if it fits on your business card. For instance, at one time rather than being an “Executive Coordinator” my title was “Executive Coordinator of Board and Staff Relations.”
• A more casual work environment with a more relaxed dress code, flexible schedules, or even dog-friendly offices. At my current office, we all get to coo when our Executive Director brings her puppy into work.
• More generous benefits. While nonprofits are known to provide lower wages than other sectors, they do tend to offer excellent health benefits, retirement packages, and even more vacation time.

The Disadvantages

• Lower wages. This is a huge disadvantage of working for nonprofits—employees are usually paid less than comparable for profit and public positions. However, mid- to upper-level nonprofit managers in larger organizations oftentimes have similar salary ranges to comparable positions in other sectors. So if you have under five years of experience, you should plan to have a salary in the low-$30K range at a nonprofit.
• Burnout is common at nonprofits. Due to both the personal and professional investment of the employee in the mission of the nonprofit organization, oftentimes the individual will blur the line between personal and work time. While I am not burnt out yet, I oftentimes find myself taking work home and going the extra mile just because of my emotional attachment to the subject matter and cause.
• There is a larger amount of turnover at nonprofits for many reasons. People move on to better-paying jobs, go back to school, switch sectors, or burn out. Additionally, there is a lack of professional development and leadership training opportunities to continue to engage employees, which affects the organization’s ability to retain employees.
• Nonprofits lack resources and are chronically underfunded which lead organizations to rely upon volunteers or to overwork the already burnt out staff.
• It is difficult to measure success. A strong motivator is the ability to measure success, and at for-profits this can usually be easily measured in profits. However, it’s more difficult for nonprofits to measure success when success is measured in the advancement of a cause, especially when the cause requires a long-term strategy to achieve its ends.

For more information on nonprofit careers, visit Idealist.org.

Networking is the key to getting to where you want to be.

I recently offered twenty basic tips for navigating a networking event successfully. Once you master the basics, you will want to take it to the next level.

Here are a few advanced networking tips to help you make the most of your next event:

1.  Set a goal before the event to give you focus. For example, “I will make solid connections with seven new people tonight.”

2.  Set a reward for beating the goal. “If I make a connection with eight new people tonight, I earn (insert fitting reward here).”

3.  Consider wearing a fun accessory. If you wear a vibrant necklace or a unique tie, you’ll find that others compliment you, and it’s an easy way to begin a conversation. Just watch the fine line between clever and stupid for that accessory.

4.  Use a compliment to jumpstart a conversation!

5.  Be a connector. Did you meet two people who could help each other out? Introduce them, and you’re an instant star.

6.  Have a compelling answer to “What do you do?”

• Instead of “I’m Director of Operations at JobBound,” say something like “I help job seekers prepare for the job search and get a great job.”
• Instead of “Nothing right now, I need a job,” say “I’m an HR Professional in transition. I’m seeking a great, new opportunity.”

7.  Have three back up questions for that scary, silent lull. You know the one. Pick three questions that you can ask anyone in the room to get the conversation rolling again.

• What made you attend tonight’s event?
• What are hoping to get out of tonight’s event?
• Do you see a lot of familiar faces here?

8.  If you meet someone who seems to know a lot of people at the networking event, ask her to introduce you to her contacts. She most likely will feel flattered.

9.  When you’re speaking with a group, try not to stand in a closed circle. A semicircle invites others to step in and join the conversation.

10.  Entering a conversation sometimes can be the most difficult. Use the venue and easy one-liners to slide into the conversation.

• I’ve been debating between the cheesecake and brownies all night. What’s your recommendation?
• This view is stunning, don’t you think?
• Alright, this is the smart group; you nabbed a spot in the shade…

11.  Politely excuse yourself. If you find yourself in a dead-end conversation, wait for a lull, and say it was nice meeting you. Refilling a drink or going to the restroom is often a good escape tactic.

12.  Don’t get paranoid when the person you’re speaking with says he needs to refill his drink!

13.  Ask “How can I help you?” This will build a stronger relationship than “I need…”

14.  Do what you say you will do. If you said you would follow up with someone or if you said you would introduce a contact to one of your colleagues, do it. What goes around comes around.

15.  Sign up for another networking event. Remember, the key with networking is to build your network before you need it.

Break out of your comfort zone, get out there, meet new people, and build relationships. That’s what networking is all about.

For more information on networking, check out JobBound.com and StopJobSearching.com

And don’t forget to check out YPC’s Table for Six Networking Event tonight from 6 to 8 p.m.

These days, it’s not uncommon to hear about our peers changing careers, pursuing graduate studies, or even taking a sabbatical to work in Africa. This is the point in our lives when many of us begin to think about the path we’re on, and wonder if we are on the right track. If we feel lost or unfulfilled, there’s a very real chance that we can end up in tailspin. And, that tailspin, ladies and gentlemen, is what’s known as the “quarter-life crisis.”

First used in 1997 by Abby Wilner, co-author of Quarterlife Crisis, this phase of life is often marked by uncertainty and questions about one’s future and managing adulthood. The difference between normal reflection and “crisis” is that the latter tends to consume your thoughts and affect all aspects of your lives. Work plays a major role in who we are and how we live, so it should be of no surprise that our questions and anxiety tend to start in that arena.

If you’re feeling like this could be you, then you need to start planning. Some experts believe that the quarter-life crisis is nothing more than a life check. You’re simply making sure that you are taking the right steps to your ideal self. Here are four steps to help you deal with your quarter-life crisis.

1. Hone in on your talents. This is a key step at any point in your life but especially holds true right now. Those who find true success have learned how to maximize their strengths and turn them into something worthwhile. If you’re having trouble getting started, then I recommend the book, “Now, Discover Your Strengths.”

2. Create a plan. After working for a few years, this is a normal point for you to evaluate your career choice. While the questions will drive you nuts, not answering them can make you insane. Ask yourself what you would like to do. Then, start thinking of ways to achieve the next step and create an honest and doable plan to make that happen.

3. Spread your wings. Research your options. Take a class at a community college. There’s nothing worse than knowing your potential and doing nothing about it. Now is not the time to be timid with pursuing your goals and dreams.

4. Talk to someone. Whether it’s a mentor or a friend, you should share your thoughts with others. For starters, you’d be surprised how many other people may feel the same as you. Now, this isn’t about throwing a pity party and seeing who has the worst life. This step is about building a network of people who can support you and offer guidance. Websites like QuarterlifeCrisis.com are a great place to start!

While there is something catchy about calling this period of time a “crisis,” it only tends to fuel the panicked fires in your brain. Consider this a call to evaluate your life. Either you’ll learn that you’re on track or you’ll realize that your skills are best utilized elsewhere. No matter what, it’s better to know these things now versus waiting until you’re older! Right?

Getting a tattoo may result in your mother crying while your father tells you you’re now unemployable, but is this true? Well…your mother will probably cry, but you’re not necessarily unemployable.

Body art isn’t reserved anymore for sailors or bartenders alone, but has now become common for all walks of life, from doctors and engineers to artists, entrepreneurs, and teachers.

CBS News reports that new research finds 23 percent of college students have one to three tattoos, and 36 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds have tattoos. This makes up more than one third of the young and incoming work force, and it’s hard to imagine that our capitalist market would throw out this large percentage of incoming talent.

However, more conservative work environments do exist, which ask employees to cover their tattoos so as to not hurt relationships with clients. CNN reports that eight percent of tattooed employees report problems at work associated with their body art.

Increasingly though, more entrepreneurial companies such as Google welcome those who express themselves through body art; oftentimes it is even seen as a sign of a free-thinking individual.

So if you have tattoos and are starting a new job, what do you do?

Having two visible tattoos myself, I consistently hide them at work until I get an idea of the culture and have time to research the company’s policies towards tattoos. However, even after I know a company is somewhat ambivalent towards tattoos, I’m usually hesitant to show them for fear of it holding me back at work—thus the daily cardigans.

If you’re a person, though, who does not feel comfortable hiding your tattoos, you can always ask during the interview process about the policies pertaining to the visibility of tattoos.

Whether or not it’s “right” to judge a person by their body art, it’s a reality of our culture, so it’s important to be aware of not only how much your mom will cry once she sees your tattoo, but also how it will affect your professional life.

Allison MacMunn is a tattooed, nonprofit professional living in Chicago, Illinois.

“This is a must-read. I wish I had this book at the beginning of my career.” I recently received The Rules of Work: A Definitive Guide To Personal Success in the mail with a note from my dad saying just that. Thanks, Dad.

If you’re looking for a kick start to your professional day or just need some inspirational career reading, The Rules of Work has what you need. This 219-page collection of two-page business tips, penned by British author Richard Templar, relies on what he claims is his own considerable success in business. This truly is a bible for biz tips.

What’s even more ideal about this book is the layout—sound and applicable advice sectioned into 10 very readable parts. Plus, Templar writes like he means it—simple, to-the-point, and never sugar-coated.

Here are five Rules of Work that spoke to me:

1. Underpromise and overdeliver.

“If you know you can do it by Wednesday always say Friday. A lot of people are so keen to be liked, or approved of, or praised that they will agree to the first delivery time offered to them—’Oh yes, I can do that,’ and then they fail. They look like pushovers in the first place and incompetent in the end.”

2. Be attractive.

I fully admit, this tip gets a bit cheesy, but hey, it’s true. The more attractive you are, the more potential you have to get where you want to be in life. Templar urges us to be like Hollywood stars in that we have “life, presence, drama, power, and personality.” Being attractive doesn’t mean you have to be naturally beautiful. What it does mean is that you should walk proudly, have a firm handshake, dress as well as possible, and be groomed to a T.

3. Know your role.

The Plant. The Resource Investigator. The Coordinator. The Shaper. The Monitor Evaluator. The Team Worker. The Implementer. The Completer. The Specialist. Know which one you are and how you fit into the team. Change your role if you want, too.

4. Don’t gossip.

“Gossiping is the occupation of idle minds—those who haven’t got enough work to do. It is also the domain of workers who have mindless jobs to do—jobs they can do without thinking and thus have to occupy themselves with inane chatter, tittle tattle, rumor, lies, and malicious stories. Trouble is, if you don’t join in you can be seen as severe or stuck up. You have to look as if you gossip without ever doing it…Don’t be seen disapproving—just don’t do it and keep that to yourself.”

5. Never lie.

Don’t. Not even a little. Ever. If you have a reputation of never lying, you’ll most likely never be asked to cover up for someone else. This doesn’t mean you can’t talk up your skills and qualifications on your resume, just don’t lie about them.

Want more? Check out 95 more tips in The Rules of Work.

Sure, your boss is impressed that you can reach a different demographic through social media and is amazed that you can use “the twitter,” but unfortunately he or she still says things in front of staff and clients like “Wow, my children are older than you!” or “Oh come on, you’re just a baby!”

Why don’t we feel flattered when we hear comments like this? Because we aren’t being taken seriously as a professional.

Many young professionals suffer from ageism, or discrimination based upon a person’s age. The term ageism is usually applied to discrimination against older individuals, but in fact, studies have shown that it is young people who suffer the most from age discrimination. A poll by Royal & SunAlliance found that 14% of young people under 25 years old felt discriminated against in the workplace because of their age, compared to only 12% of people over the age of 45.

While no one wants to be Benjamin Button, many do want to get ahead in their jobs—causing a dilemma. So what can be done? Here is some advice:

• Dress professionally all of the time, and don’t dress too trendy in the office.
• Don’t stress about your age, but do act maturely.
• When someone makes a comment about your age, simply reply: “Yeah, I get that a lot”—then move on to business.
• If you’re age systematically holds you back from promotions at a company that values age and experience over ability, look for another job.
• Perhaps most importantly, ignore the fact that you’re young, and do good work. It is you that has to believe you are capable before anyone else.

I had the opportunity to meet Barry Moltz early this year as a guest speaker at a luncheon I attended. When I signed up I wasn’t expecting much; just another entrepreneur talking about his path to success and what he learned along the way. But Barry’s approach was different. For the first time a business guru was highlighting failure not as an interesting course correction on his road to inevitable success, but as seemingly random events that might just as often have no more to teach us than the number of clouds in the sky. This is not to say that he believes failure is unrelated to preparedness, just that not all failure holds the secret to success—sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

The best way to be prepared for failure, says Barry, is to build your “bounce” in the form of ten “Building Bands of Success.” These bands are meant as much to stretch you as they are to provide the elasticity of your bounce. Bands such as humility, facing fear, and giving up shame begin to build a resilient foundation for the bounce you will need to recover from the failure you are sure to experience.

I recently invited Barry to speak at an upcoming YPC event, and took it as an opportunity to read his latest book Bounce! Failure, Resiliency, and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success. His book was difficult to read—not for the style, but for the content. I identify strongly with the try-and-try-again archetype. I embody the failure is not an option attitude that is vilified in the book. And I have held many a “post-mort” meeting trying to draw learns from less than successful ventures. I’m not ready to stop the project autopsies anytime soon—but I may be apt to spend less time with the cadaver.

If you would like to hear more about Bounce! directly from the author, YPC will be hosting Barry Moltz at a Sttratigic Insights dinner this Wednesday. For more information or to register click here.

When you’re unemployed and desperately searching for work—and your student loans are already in repayment—it makes you wonder exactly why you’re paying those bills. While some may follow the lead of a woman who sued to get her tuition back, there are other avenues to securing income and making ends meet.

The Job Search

 Searching for a job is a humbling experience. Never have I felt so rejected in my life; however, you must keep plugging along. During my own post-grad-school job search, I applied for over 300 jobs nationwide before I found one… literally. Was this job the “job of my dreams?” No. Not even close. However, it did allow me an opening to work hard, learn a lot, and seek out promotions. As young professionals, we have worked hard getting through school, but we also must remember that we must “pay our dues” to land that dream job—especially in this economy. This struggle oftentimes ranges from finding a job to the first few years at a new company. Just remember that you’re not alone. 

Making Connections

Remember the Career Center at your university? You can always utilize this service as an alum. Additionally, there are always broad alumnae networks that can assist you through your university.

Other than that, network like crazy! Call up those old professors who loved you, asking for letters of recommendation, references, and leads on any potential jobs. Call up an contacts who live in cities where you may wish to work. Network at social and professional events: Let it be known that you’re not only amazing (obviously), but you’re also looking for a job. If all else fails, hit up your well-connected relatives. Have no shame in order to survive.

Making Ends Meet

While it’s tempting to ignore those bills and your problems, you’ve got to “man up” (for lack of a better term) and handle it. First thing’s first—call your student loan companies! Tell them you are unemployed, and after some annoying paperwork, you’ll get an extension on repayment.

Step number two is budgeting. If you’re used to living a certain lifestyle, it can be very, very difficult to change this lifestyle. For some it may be ending those shopping sprees or going out to dinner. For me, it was going from drinking Fat Tire to PBR… cringe…. And when you actually sit down to budget, you realize what you can and cannot afford. Even going to Walgreen’s and buying a few items here and there may be a luxury you can no longer afford. And while budgeting will most likely affect your social life, it doesn’t have to end it. There are many free things to do in the city!

Allison MacMunn moved to Chicago in 2008 after completing an MA in Women’s and Gender Studies from Rutgers University. Currently, Allison serves as the Executive Coordinator at Chicago Foundation for Women. An active member of YPC, Allison serves as the PR Manager on the Marketing Committee.