5 Nonprofit Career Exploration Tips for College Students
As a new school year starts up many college students are at different places in their career searches. Some have not even thought of it and others may find it suddenly thrust upon them. If you know you want to get involved in nonprofit work, the process is even more difficult. Aside from a handful of well known fellowships—Teach for America, Americorps, City Year, and the Peace Corps—the social change career search is daunting because it isn’t often presented as a viable career option. Where do you begin? How do you figure out what you want to do?
No matter where you are your career search involves more than finding a job; you need to have a sense of what you enjoy doing, what you are passionate about, and what skills and networks you want to develop. Here a few ways to begin the exploration process:
Find a skilled volunteer or internship opportunity at a nonprofit: Skilled volunteer positions and internships allow you to develop a relationship with an organization while exploring what you are good at. Take time to meet other people at the organization and learn a bit about what they do. You can make wonderful contacts and use your experiences to add a new perspective to your course work.
Take a class with a social justice component: Social justice classes are unique in that they usually combine fieldwork with personal reflection and exploration of local issues in a broader social context. You can get a sense of what issues are important to you and how you want to approach them.
Take an economics class: Contrary to what people believe economics does not automatically equate to a career in finance. Economics is about how and why we buy and the impact our purchases have on local and global economies. Additionally, learning about business structures and developing methodical and strategic thinking skills are valuable in any sector and in many positions.
Join a club that explores pressing social issues: Clubs provide you with the opportunity to bond with people who share your interests while increasing your access to diverse resources. You can also help plan events, network with people, and increase awareness and advocacy efforts, all of which are valuable skills in the nonprofit sector.
Go abroad: Living abroad forces you to be more independent and fosters self awareness. You also have the opportunity to explore international issues, learn another language, and engage in comparative research to better frame your understanding of social justice. And finally, many organizations view travel abroad favorably as a sign of being able to work independently and be resourceful.
What are some other ways to explore the nonprofit sector and your place in it?
Great list! One thing I would add is simply that students need to talk to their professors. The best untapped resources is probably professors. Talk to professors about the subjects you’re passionate about, the activities you’re joining, the work you want to do eventually.
The thing is in this field young people desperately need mentors to help them figure out how to best make an impact. I think getting to know professors is immensely helpful for the future of any student.
Absolutely! Professors have so many resources and connections and can help you figure out what approach to take when mapping out your post grad plans. Thanks for the insight, Akhila!
I teach social work (mostly graduate) students, some of whom graduated last spring and are still looking for work, so this hits home. I’d say that some students are only finding jobs in for-profit work that is unconnected (seemingly) to their social change goals, and I work with them to think about how they can leverage that experience into the nonprofit job they want–can they learn supervision, or finance/accounting, or marketing, or other skills that will translate? And attend conferences and other professional development opportunities, use social networks–as a student, you can present yourself as trying to learn and build your connections, and people are often quite open to that.
Thanks for sharing that. I also find that people are flattered when you say you want to learn from them. Just being open to connecting and learning makes others want to do the same!
Great list! I think it’s also important for young people to utilize young professional groups to network and find more internship and volunteer opportunities. Many of these groups are fairly generalized, but there are some cities that have young professional groups geared towards those going into the non-profit sector as well. Check out http://www.ynpn.org for more information regarding this latter type.
I’m a huge fan of YNPN so thanks for sharing that link. Additionally, folks may want to check out junior boards that nonprofits have as a way to get their feet in the door. These boards are a wonderful way of developing skills that are valuable to the np sector and meeting a diverse group of people.