Dreaming of soul-enriching work in a non-profit?

An article in the January issue of the Harvard Business review has some interesting stats and tips about the trend of professionals and executives moving toward nonprofits and the social sector.

• almost 10% of workers between 44 and 70 moved to a nonprofit from a corporate job
• and 50% of "trailing edge" boomers between 44 and 50 say they'd like to make the switch, too
• the nonprofit sector must find 330,000 senior executives by 2016 to replace those that are retiring
  

If you're hoping to make the transition, here's some advice from the article:

For the untold numbers of corporate executives who dream of soul-enriching second careers in the social sector—but have no idea how to make that dream come true—our advice is to lend your expertise: Volunteer for temporary positions or board memberships at several different organizations until you find your joy and discover what you are really good at.

Along those lines, here's a short video of an interview with Patty Stonesifer, the former CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, about bridging into the nonprofit sector.



There's a more in-depth article here.

Tips from Sarah Needleman of the WSJ about starting an online job search

Sarah covers career and tech related topics for the Wall Street Journal. She has a couple of articles with tips about starting an online job search (It Isn't Always a Job Behind an Online Job Posting and Experts Weigh In on Job Boards).

The first tip is a word of caution about the postings on many job boards:

If you're launching an online job hunt for the first time in a while; take caution. What may look like an ad for employment may lead to something entirely different, like a hard sell for career services or job-training manuals. Or worse, it might be a plan by identity thieves to get you to share sensitive personal information via "phishing" expeditions. Some of the job postings -- sometimes for positions long filled -- also could be from recruiting agencies looking to collect résumés.

The problem of job postings that aren't what they seem is adding to the frustrations of the more than two million recently laid-off workers who are competing for an increasingly limited number of jobs. The good news is that there are several tip-offs that indicate an ad is likely to lead you down the wrong path. And as long as you don't give out any private data, getting duped into responding to a fruitless job ad will likely only cost you time and energy.

The second tip is where to focus your online job search as there are over 60,000 job boards on the web today, it's hard to know where to spend your time and effort. She asked several experts in the field and the responses were generally along two lines: (1) focus on niche sites for better quality postings for mid-to-senior positions and (2) to try and not spend too much time searching for jobs online, and focus more effort on networking your way to a job.

Q: What advice do you have for job hunters searching employment boards?

A: Don't put too much time into them, advises Mr. Cohen. He recommends investing heavily in networking in person and online.

Four tips for those considering the freelancing option

Marketwatch has a nice interview with Sara Horowitz, executive director of Freelancers Union, about folks turning to freelance work as a temporary option to help make ends meet or as a springboard to a new career.



For Sara's four tips, the marketwatch article is here.

Let the Sun Shine: US is still hiring

"Double-digit unemployment" and "the worst X since Y" sell lots of newspapers. So if you are, like me, a recent job-hunter with 5-10 years of experience, the atmosphere is probably one of the gloomiest you've ever seen.

The reality is, as usual, better and worse than the headlines, which average out the details to give you a 10,000 foot view. Some sectors of the economy (education) are holding their own. Also undiscussed are the 14.5MM US workers over age 60 (my estimate). Just like the deaths from a natural disaster include people who happened to die of natural causes at just the right time, there is a gray zone of indeterminate size in all of these layoff stats. How many of the 1.5MM jobs lost in Dec'08-Jan'09 were due to "natural" or "slightly accelerated natural" attrition, aka retirement? 

Very few employers have the luxury of burying their heads in the sand until it all gets better (and with the USPS talking about reducing service, even the government workforce is getting the message that change is afoot), and companies that can't stand still need FTEs to move forward. 

Case in point, the spreadsheet of sunshine, which is documenting tech positions in the broader economy and broader positions in the tech economy. There is no doubt that the next year or two will be brutally darwinian at all "market cap points" on the corporate food chain, but scroll through this list and you'll see almost all industries and firm sizes represented. Whatever your tolerance for risk, chances are you can still find opportunity.

Outside of technology, particularly in construction and retail, the pain is acute, and I won't even attempt any pat words of advice or cheap comfort as my expertise decays rapidly outside of technology. If your career in one of the harder hit sectors has gotten knocked down in the past year, please comment or contact me with details on how you've responded to your situation. I'd love to post (anonymous) stories that might help other readers facing a similar trial.

3.6 million jobs -- not a pretty picture

The chart below shows the number of jobs lost over the last year vs the 1990 and 2001 recessions. Not a pretty picture...

jobscout just launched marketing manager jobs in new york digest

We just launched the marketing manager jobs in New York digest. We now have four digests covering business development, marketing manager, product manager and sales jobs in New York city.

It's been less than a month since we started and things seem to be off to a good start. A number of people have written in about how much they like the digests so far and that's great to hear.

If you're looking for a marketing manager job, please give the new digest a try. And, we love feedback and suggestions, so please leave a comment or send an email to dailydigest@jobscout.net!