by Fredia Woolf | May 21, 2010 | Advice, Featured
Last week, I facilitated a meeting between senior leaders of industry and a professional association to explore the topic of collaboration. For the session, I defined successful collaboration as knowing how to respect personal boundaries and how to break down...
by Fredia Woolf | May 14, 2010 | Advice, Job Seekers
Is there a connection between the oil spill seeping inexorably across the Gulf of Mexico and the wild gyrations of the stock market last week? I think there is. For me, the link is that we human beings have a dangerous tendency to over-reach ourselves only to suffer...
by Joe Brown | May 12, 2010 | Advice, Featured, Management
While the very smallest nonprofit organizations may not find it necessary, any organization with more than one or two employees should consider creating a written handbook outlining non-contractual employment terms and work conditions. This post takes a look at some...
by Fredia Woolf | May 7, 2010 | Advice, Featured, Job Seekers
Sometimes, themes emerge in my work. This week’s is the following interesting observation: Once achieved, the long-dreamed-of promotion or the eagerly awaited job often turn out more troublesome than anticipated. Is it that some people are never satisfied? Or, is...
by Joe Brown | May 5, 2010 | Advice, Featured, Management
“Where are they going to go?” “They’re lucky to have a job.” These are, unfortunately, actual statements I’ve heard in the past year from nonprofit managers offered as rationales for not taking steps to advance human resources...
by Fredia Woolf | Apr 30, 2010 | Advice, Job Seekers
My last blog, “In Praise of the Simple Life,” portrayed a state of mellowness and contemplative calm. How sad that such a balanced stance does not seem sustainable. Having thought I found the “answers” to dealing with the stresses and strains of work and life, let me...
by Joe Brown | Apr 20, 2010 | Advice, Featured, Job Seekers, Management
For the vast majority of the country’s more than 1.2 million registered 501(c)(3) organizations, the development function, and therefore development professionals, has always been of critical importance. Today, while the profession itself faces increased demands...
by Fredia Woolf | Apr 19, 2010 | Advice, Management
This week, I invite you to join me on my travels. I have returned to the land of my birth, South Africa, where I am visiting my aging parents. I confess that it was with some trepidation that I agreed to go and spend a week with them out in the bushveld. My cell...
by Joe Brown | Apr 16, 2010 | Advice, Management
In part 1, I outlined a model of human resources maturity among nonprofit organizations based on the clear delineation of position, person and performance. I also examined the first two phases of this maturity including their implications for the design and...
by Joe Brown | Apr 12, 2010 | Advice, Featured, Management
During my years working as a consultant to nonprofits, I have observed three basic phases of organizations’ human resources maturity. This maturity can be defined in terms of how much delineation exists between position, person and performance. Each phase has...
by Joe Brown | Apr 8, 2010 | Advice, Management, Recruiters
In my previous post, I made a case for the use of salary ranges as the foundation of a formal compensation program for nonprofit organizations. Particularly for organizations experiencing or have experienced significant growth, the use of salary ranges can go a long...
by Fredia Woolf | Apr 2, 2010 | Advice, Job Seekers, Management
Whether you are president of a board, a senior executive or a job seeker, you need to be good at influencing others. We live in a complex world where there are limits to our authority; no matter how senior we are, the old hierarchies and command and control...
by Fredia Woolf | Mar 26, 2010 | Advice, Job Seekers
Customizing your career used to be necessary for career changers and candidates transitioning between the for-profit and not-for-profit worlds. But, in the current job market, where there is no cookie cutter candidate and candidate supply in most fields exceeds...
by Joe Brown | Mar 16, 2010 | Advice, Management, Recruiters
A recent survey found that 73% of nonprofit organizations have a formal policy to review executive compensation. As a human resources and management consultant to nonprofits, what I found striking about this statistic is that it means 27% of organizations do not have...
by Karen Alphonse | Mar 11, 2010 | Advice, Job Seekers
Question: How do you ask for a raise? Answer: From what I am seeing and hearing, the practical answer is that you don’t. Many employers are not even hiring on a full-time basis let alone giving raises. Many have cut bonuses or have made them entirely...
by Fredia Woolf | Mar 10, 2010 | Advice, Job Seekers
A colleague working at a prestigious university for the past 15 years posted the following on his Facebook: “I have reached the time in my career when I try to make my résumé as short, rather than as long, as possible.” Yet, recruiters complain about the increasing...
by Karen Alphonse | Mar 8, 2010 | Advice, Job Seekers
Employees often have many salary-related questions. What is the most tactful way to broach this sensitive issue? When is it appropriate to raise questions about salary? What do you say? How can you prepare to answer questions about your compensation requirements?...
by Fredia Woolf | Feb 24, 2010 | Advice, Job Seekers, News
Tania Jones’ job search lasted ten months, one week and five days. She counted each one of them. Unexpectedly laid off in the depths of the 2009 job slump, she was diligent and proactive in sending out her resume and seeking out contacts and opportunities. But,...
by Fredia Woolf | Feb 10, 2010 | Advice, Job Seekers, Recruiters
What do John Thain (former Wall Street golden boy) and Toyota have in common? Both have known fame and fortune, and both found themselves in trouble when the wheel of fate turned. This week, Mr. Thain landed a fancy new job after a year of unemployment, and we await...
by Fredia Woolf | Feb 3, 2010 | Advice, Featured, Job Seekers, Recruiters
A critical differentiator between you and other equally qualified candidates competing for the same job is what people say about you. These days, employers are taking more time doing background checks on people because the risk of hiring someone “blind” is just too...
