May 31, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
NEW BOOKS
Transitioning to the Nonprofit Sector: Shifting Your Focus From the Bottom Line to a Better World
by Laura Gassner Otting
Many for-profit workers looking to move into a nonprofit job believe the shift will be easy, writes Laura Gassner Otting, founder and president of the Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group.
But some of them may “find themselves flummoxed by foreign lingo, unfamiliar yardsticks of success, or drastic differences in the pace of the work.”
To help clear up the confusion, Ms. Otting walks career changers through the process of finding, applying for, and keeping a charity job.
The book focuses on three aspects of job hunting: assessing one’s own strengths and interests, knowing where to find the best resources, and understanding the idiosyncrasies of nonprofit organizations and the charity job market.
Ms. Otting discusses the different missions of charities, common myths and misunderstandings, salary differences, and job profiles.
A chapter on creating a resume that appeals to charities offers tips on what to include — and what to leave out. Ms. Otting suggests that candidates leave off grade-point averages: “Remember when you brought home a 98 in third-grade spelling and your dad asked where the other two points went? Nonprofits put high stakes on education and are often a bit snobby about it.”
Interviews with people who have made the leap from for-profit work to nonprofit careers offer personal insight, while sample cover letters and information on interviews help readers make a good first impression. The book includes lists of relevant Web sites, books, job boards, and educational resources.
Publisher: Kaplan Publishing, 888 Seventh Avenue, 22nd Floor, New York, N.Y. 10106; (212) 492-5800; fax (212) 974-2755; http://www.kaplanpublishing.com; 270 pages; $16.95; ISBN 1-4195-9341-2.
