by Karen Alphonse | Sep 10, 2013 | Advice, Featured, Management, Recruiters
Q: I am a board member at a $10M non-profit in the North East. Our current Executive Director is coming up for review, and we are struggling with how to ask her to leave. The organization’s finances are in a pitiful state, morale is low, and, apparently, some key...
by Karen Alphonse | Aug 27, 2013 | Advice, Featured, Management
Q: We updated our fundraising department with new software that allows us annually to reach thousands of targeted prospects. Our current Development Director does not know how to work the software, and she is a bit of a technophobe. Already, we see gaps between how...
by Karen Alphonse | Jun 11, 2013 | Advice, Featured, Management
Question: We are running an Executive Director search for a small ($2M budget) non-profit in the tri-state New York area. We are not in a position to run a full-blown executive search at this time. What kinds of skills should we emphasize in our position...
by Karen Alphonse | Apr 23, 2013 | Advice, Featured, Job Seekers, Management
Question: In your opinion, what do non-profit leaders need most today? Answer: No-nonsense economies require no-nonsense leaders. Based on what we are hearing from other recruiters, search committees and those actively leading philanthropic organizations, three...
by Karen Alphonse | Oct 22, 2012 | Advice, Management, Recruiters
Q: I am the search committee chairperson for a philanthropic organization with networks across the Mid-Atlantic and on the East Coast. We are reasonably well supported and are financially stable. What do you think we should look for when we select our next leader? A:...
by Karen Alphonse | Apr 24, 2012 | Advice, Featured, Management, Recruiters
Q: How can a talent acquisition specialist/recruiter help our organization? Our budget has been cut, and people just don’t see value in outsourcing human resource functions. A: An experienced recruiter can add immediate value to your search for top talent. A good...
by Karen Alphonse | Apr 10, 2012 | Advice, Featured, Job Seekers, Management, Recruiters
Q: Are cover letters useful? I hear employers are not reading them anymore. A: We are in a new world of employment, and protocols are evolving. In the past, employers relied on cover letters as both a screening device and as a way to decide whether an applicant...
by Karen Alphonse | Mar 27, 2012 | Advice, Featured, Job Seekers, Management, Recruiters
Q: As a recruiter, what do you look for in a leader? What signs indicate leadership? A: Sometimes, it is difficult to quantify the traits comprising successful leadership. The obvious traits include: effective communication of a vision to others; the ability to...
by Karen Alphonse | Mar 20, 2012 | Advice, Featured, Management, Recruiters
Q: What should be included in an Executive Director job description? A: The position description for a nonprofit Executive Director should include language addressing core competencies and other operational skills. For many organizations, these include: Passion for...
by Karen Alphonse | Mar 13, 2012 | Advice, Featured, Management
Q: What leadership qualities are sought in a nonprofit Executive Director? A: The obvious leadership qualities of a nonprofit Executive Director include: vision; passion for the mission; strategic planning ability; financial management skills (budgeting,...
by Karen Alphonse | Jan 9, 2012 | Advice, Featured, Job Seekers, Management
In this series, we have taken a closer look at the pieces that comprise a total search process from Defining the Opportunity to Identifying Talent. In this last installment of my three-part series, the focus is on initiating the search process and the role of a...
by Karen Alphonse | Dec 12, 2011 | Advice, Featured, Job Seekers, Management
Conducting a search for new talent is a cumbersome task. Trying to decide whether or not to involve a recruiter is another important, if not intimidating, aspect of the process. In my previous post, I outlined two specific areas of consideration with regard to...
by Karen Alphonse | Nov 14, 2011 | Advice, Featured, Management, Recruiters
Your organization can directly benefit by partnering with an experienced recruiter to conduct specific key search functions. Recruiters can help attract talent, screen likely candidates and check the background and work history of your preferred candidate(s) in...
by Sandra Sims | Nov 7, 2011 | Featured, Management
Does your nonprofit organization have a Human Resources Department? Or, does it have even just one dedicated HR professional? If you work in the nonprofit sector, it may not come as a surprise to you that the majority of small nonprofits do not have one staff member...
by Sandra Sims | Oct 24, 2011 | Management, Recruiters, Uncategorized
In a year of higher-than-average unemployment, many working in nonprofits are finding they are providing increasing levels of services to their clientele. For example, homeless shelters have seen a dramatic increase in first-time homeless families which is often...
by Carmel Napolitano | Oct 11, 2011 | Featured, Management
This summer, the New York Times had a piece about how über-philanthropists Pierre Omidyar and Peter Lewis were keen on requiring leaders and other staff of organizations they fund to take management courses. As expected, there’s a wide range of ideas – if not...
by Fredia Woolf | Aug 25, 2011 | Advice, Featured, Management
From my experience working with leaders of all kinds, I have noticed many different styles and approaches can be effective depending on the context, situation, organization or personalities involved. But, there seem to be four essential characteristics that always...
by F. Jay Hall | Aug 16, 2011 | Advice, Featured, Job Seekers, Management
I have a really big pet peeve. I try not to let it get me, but it does, and it just happened here. My husband was singing along to a song when the lyrics went from English to Spanish. He continued on without pause even though he could not keep up with the beat to...
by Fredia Woolf | Jul 20, 2011 | Advice, Job Seekers, Management
The dog days of summer are upon us. Work – or seeking work – must continue, but we would rather be sitting under a tree or playing in the water. It is hard to feel stressed, overwhelmed or under pressure when the temperature is hovering around ninety degrees. ...
by Fredia Woolf | Jul 7, 2011 | Job Seekers, Management
Independence Day got me thinking about the meaning of the word independence, which led me to wonder if I could come up with a strong, positive leadership trait for each letter of the alphabet. Here is my unscientific, yet empirical, list of qualities consistently...
