Consultant Janet Levine blogs about how __not__ to hire development staff for a nonprofit organization. She identifies real and common issues around making a good hire for these challenging roles.
Here’s are her ideas:
1. DON’T “spend a lot of time thinking about what I really wanted this person to do.”
2. DON’t expect that person to “log in the gifts, send out thank you letters, manage the annual gala and the golf tournament, make nice to board members (but don’t for pity’s sake ask them for anything), keep the files up to date, get out a newsletter, arrange for the bus to pick up….and oh yeah, in your spare time, could you make sure you close the financial gap between our revenue and expenses.”
3. DON’T develop interview “questions that will truly dig into a person’s style and beliefs. “
4. DON’T give candidates “a transparent picture of the situation.”
5. DO create a job description and DO develop “screening questions that have no connection to reality. “
Saturday, June 06, 2009
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2 comments:
Thanks a lot for posting this excellent ideas...
I love this list; and if you just add:
* Have a broad knowledge of our cause and the needs of our clients
* Be able to speak and network
* pinch hit for other staff when they're busy or sick
* Develop the financial statements that the board wants to see, and manage expenditures to the budget
* Install and maintain all the software, network the computers together, and keep all the office equipment running
* Hire/recruit, supervise, and fire all staff and volunteers
...and you'd have pretty much my job description as the Executive Director of a small nonprofit.
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