Example: DoSomething.org Uses Job Ads to Convey Its Quirky Culture

DoSomething.org doesn’t shy away from having fun with its job ads — after all, that’s an important part of workplace culture at the youth volunteerism nonprofit.

“We exist primarily for teenagers, so we want to attract the kinds of people who ‘get’ young people and who are really excited about making products and doing projects for them,” says Katie Radford, who oversees hiring and recruiting at the organization. Her title is “head of fun.”

“We have a super-vibrant, really quirky, really hard-working kind of environment here, and it’s really important to us that the kinds of people we’re going to bring on to the team understand that,” she says.

The jobs page also links to the organization’s culture book, which provides an overview of the organization and its staff. A new version of the book is created each summer by interns. The latest version has staff answering such questions as “What’s the nerdiest thing you do in your spare time?” and “What is your secret talent?”

Writing the Ad

Job ads at DoSomething are usually written by the person doing the hiring. In some cases, other employees help create the ads. When writing a job description, it’s important to have as many people involved as possible, said Ms. Radford, who approves all job ads. “It gives a lot of people’s input on whether it’s the right way to convey the position,” she said.

A lot of hiring is done for the group’s advocacy campaign teams, so samples or templates from the nonprofit’s own previous job descriptions can serve as a starting place. Each ad has four sections: overview, responsibilities, qualifications, and “additionally.” The sections contain bulleted lists, making the ad “super digestible,” she adds.

The overview section provides some context for potential applicants, like the number and age of DoSomething members. It also includes a topical reference that a good candidate would understand: “You have an opinion on Toms Shoes, and you’re not afraid to voice it.”

“There’s information here that’s not about specific qualifications but gives you an idea of the kind of work you will be doing and the kind of person we’re looking for,” Ms. Radford says.

The responsibilities section includes the key areas that the job entails, while leaving some room for ambiguity, as job responsibilities often change, says Ms. Radford. Each point here begins with a specific topic — research, for example — then goes into a brief description of what that means for this particular position at DoSomething.

The qualifications section also isn’t as specific as you might see with some organizations, in part because DoSomething hires a lot of entry-level and early-career employees. But the organization doesn’t require applicants to have a college degree, and you won’t always see anything like “minimum 2 years of experience.” Rather, the ad emphasizes qualities like passion, communication skills, and project-management experience.

Not all ads list the salary because the hiring budget has some flexibility with certain positions. When a position does have a hard starting salary, it goes into the ad, in the “additionally” section. That part of the ad also provides information about vacation time and other perks, like birthdays off. Tech postings note that the nonprofit’s offices have at least four ways to make coffee, says Ms. Radford — a cheeky nod to techies’ reputation for heavy caffeine use.

Posting the Ad

An ad typically appears on Idealist, LinkedIn, and DoSomething’s own site. The organization uses The Resumator, an online recruiting platform, as its applicant tracking system.

DoSomething accepts applications on an ongoing basis and generally doesn’t take an ad down until a job is filled. Most campaign positions get 300 to 600 applications, Ms. Radford said.

This particular ad for an associate working on health campaigns brought in more than 600 applicants. DoSomething hired two new employees who started in May.