Category Archives: Careers

These posts have advice about career transitions for Corps members and alumni.

10.06.09
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Career Transitions: Exploring Your Options for Life After AmeriCorps

Contributed originally to the Nonprofit Career Month blog by Magdalena Montagne the Effective Practices Project Coordinator at the Resource Center.

People come to national and community service for a variety of reasons. As a young person, my desire to help children along with a love of reading led me to the America Reads program. I was considering becoming a teacher and this was one way I could check it out while also getting first-hand experience in several different classrooms (both elementary and middle school) and having the chance to observe some amazing teachers in action.

Of course, the real power was with the relationships I made with those students who were struggling to read. Every day I felt I was helping someone. This kept me engaged in a way that hadn’t happened in previous jobs, and before I knew it the service year was coming to a close. However, I hadn’t made a plan for what to do next. It wasn’t until several years — and several jobs — later, Continue reading →

10.01.09
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Career Transitions: October is Nonprofit Career Month

A new campaign highlights professional opportunities in the nonprofit sector.

Whether you are just starting to think about working in the nonprofit sectorncm_needsyou_200w professionally after your term ends, or you are a seasoned nonprofit leader, Nonprofit Career Month is a new, pilot opportunity for you to discover ways to act on your passions through professional opportunities in the nonprofit (or independent, or nongovernmental, or third…) sector.

You can connect with the month of activities — and create your own! — in a variety of ways. Driven by the collective contributions of the nonprofit community, the campaign dispels common myths about nonprofit work, provides individuals with entry points to the sector, and allows current and aspiring nonprofit professionals to share expertise.

The brand new website NonprofitCareerMonth.org features:

09.29.09
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New Podcast: South Carolina Nonprofit Leader Mac Bennett of the United Way of the Midlands

Mac Bennett

Mac Bennett

A new podcast series features nonprofit leaders throughout the country.

October is Nonprofit Career Month, a month of activities to promote the diversity of career opportunities in the nation’s nonprofit sector. Driven by the collective contributions of the nonprofit community, the campaign dispels common myths about nonprofit work, provides you with entry points to the sector, and allows current and aspiring nonprofit professionals to share expertise.

Launching our Nonprofit Career Month podcast series is a discussion with Mac Bennett who shares his experiences and insights from 30 years of nonprofit leadership. Since March 2005, Mac Bennett has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way of the Midlands in Columbia, SC.

Mac studied finance and management at the University of South Carolina, and then blazed a career in public service, first holding a variety of leadership positions with the University of South Carolina and then serving as Executive Director of the Central Carolina Community Foundation.

Bennett is also a founding director of the South Carolina Association of Nonprofit Organizations (SCANPO). Throughout his career, Bennett has been instrumental in efforts to improve training and education for people working in the nonprofit sector.

I chatted with Mac about making a difference while making a living; how Mac got started as a volunteer in the sector; the variety of ways to serve your community; and Jim Collin’s book Good to Great and the Social Sectors.

09.18.09
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AmeriCorps — a Great First “Job”

Sarah Stankorb, The Corps Network

Sarah Stankorb, The Corps Network

This post was contributed by former AmeriCorps member and staffer at The Corps Network Sarah Stankorb.

A good number of my friends have suddenly found themselves precariously and unintentionally unemployed. Hearing their stories of frustration, the heaps of resumes they’ve had to send out each week, and the dull quiet of phones that have failed to ring, I can’t help but think back to my first bout with unemployment.

I was about to graduate from college (something neither of my parents had done), and I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I had nearly earned a philosophy degree and was not finding myself to be particularly employable. Worse yet, there was no clear next step for me. I was in uncharted waters.

A professor of mine, helping me contemplate whether graduate school or the workforce were the next best home for me, Continue reading →

09.02.09
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Career Tip: Paying Your Dues — Is it a Necessity?

From shawncampbell via Flickr's Creative Commons

Originally posted on the Idealist.org homepage blog by resident career transitions expert Meg Busse. Meg recently recorded a podcast answering common questions about nonprofit careers. To listen, click here.

I was on a panel a few weeks ago at a retreat for Executive Directors (EDs). The panel was focused on supporting emerging leaders in the nonprofit sector and featured four people to speak to our experiences as 30(ish)-year-olds in leadership roles. The other panelists were fantastic: Matthew Bennett and Michelle Cote of the Purpose Project and Fahd Vahidy, Executive Director of Public Allies Connecticut.

One of the most interesting moments of the session came at the very end when one Executive Director commented that young hires don’t want to pay their dues. This created a bit of a Continue reading →