In an old Irish folktale, a man grew a giant potato in his garden, so big that it could feed his entire village. But the oversized tuber caused a series of logistical challenges that threw his hungry neighbors into a tailspin; the man's wife suggests that the potato can be cut up and eaten, thus saving the day. In today's labor market, the nonprofit sector is sort of like that giant potato. For the past several years, the sector has been growing at such a rate that it's become tough for most folks to know what to make of it....

Interview settings can present challenging communication dynamics, even for the most experienced candidates. To help navigate through these nuanced conversations, here are few things you might hear, as well as suggestions for how to best prepare yourself to respond....

Kevin Flynn, Commongood's director of recruitment and candidate services, describes how the sector has shifted from wanting to hire generalists to seeking specialists, and following a more corporate management structure, and suggests how you can position yourself to keep up....

This article is a summary of The Voice of Nonprofit Talent: Diversity in the Workplace, a report produced by Commongood Careers and Level Playing Field Institute that draws on a survey of 1,638 current and former nonprofit employees to gauge the state of the sector in providing diverse hiring practices and work environments....

This article is a summary of Making Smart Investments in Human Capital, a report co-authored by James Weinberg, founder and CEO of Commongood Careers, and Dana Hagenbuch that draws on a series of four regional convenings organized by their organization earlier this year. At those meetings, nonprofit executives, HR practitioners, evaluation experts, and funders sat down to discuss best practices, challenges, and emerging issues related to the subject of hiring and cultivating nonprofit employees. Over two hundred attendees representing a hundred and sixty-two organizations participated in the conversations....

The world in which nonprofit organizations and institutions work and operate has changed dramatically since the global financial crisis and economic downturn began to unfold in 2008. And while the economy finally seems to be on the mend, many of the consequences of the downturn are here to stay. As a result, leadership in the sector will have to be provided by people who themselves have adapted to significant and substantive change, and who are able and willing to think strategically about incorporating change into the operational core of their organizations....

The world in which nonprofit organizations and institutions work and operate has changed dramatically since the global financial crisis and economic downturn began to unfold in 2008. And while the economy finally seems to be on the mend, many of the consequences of the downturn are here to stay. As a result, leadership in the sector will have to be provided by people who themselves have adapted to significant and substantive change, and who are able and willing to think strategically about incorporating change into the operational core of their organizations....

Nonprofits are hiring again. Organizations are emerging from the economic turbulence and market changes of the past two years and are looking for strategic ways to renew and enhance their capacity to provide services by bringing back and — in many cases — adding staff.

It isn't too early in the year to identify a positive trend for the nonprofit sector in 2011. After widespread cutbacks and holding actions during the economic downturn, nonprofit organizations and institutions are hiring again. As noted in soon-to-be-released annual salary surveys conducted by Professionals for NonProfits in three markets (metropolitan New York, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C.), not only are nonprofits beginning to hire, they're also raising salaries to compete for the talent they need....

Not long ago, job seekers followed the resume golden rule: No resume should exceed one page. However, today's job seekers are finding that rule no longer applies. PNP's Naheed Elyasi offers some tips designed to bring your resume up to date....

When considering a new position at a nonprofit, most job seekers focus on the mission of the organization and the salary offer but pay little or no attention to the benefits the organization provides to its employees. Benefits, however, are a crucial component of any compensation package and should be one of the things you consider when evaluating a job offer....

The current global economic crisis is having a clear and significant impact on the nonprofit sector. While mission-driven organizations have seen mounting demand for their services and predict that the demand will continue to grow, they are also extremely concerned about the philanthropic environment and worry about how they will be able to support an increase in services with an expected decrease in revenue. How can organizations deal with the strain presented by the current economic situation? First and foremost, they need to ensure that the organization remains financially viable during the economic downturn. Unfortunately, this will most likely mean staffing related changes because such costs represent about 70 percent of an average nonprofit's budget....

Much has been written and discussed about the social sector's leadership gap, as well as the potential for retiring Baby Boomers from other sectors to play a role in addressing the growing need for talent. In reality, however, many organizations are slow to recruit and hire from this seasoned workforce, and in those instances when they do, are seemingly meeting with mixed success....

As more and more nonprofits adapt entrepreneurial philosophies of operating efficiently while scaling their programs, career opportunities in business operations are on the rise....

While some industries have direct inroads for recent graduates, entry-level opportunities in the nonprofit sector can be harder to navigate. This article shares the inside scoop about entry-level positions at a few rapidly growing organizations....

The societal, economic, and political landscape looks very different in 2010 from that which existed just a few years ago. Faced with a range of new realities, social entrepreneurs feel that they are approaching an "inflection point," or a moment of dramatic change for their organizations and movement. Commongood Careers and the Building Movement Project convened "conversations" in four cities with a group of two hundred leaders from innovative nonprofits to discuss this pivotal moment in social entrepreneurship....

Like any field, the nonprofit sector has its own language that helps workers define who they are and what they do. As a newcomer, it can be hard to understand the nonprofit vernacular, but there's no need to cue the horrifying flashbacks to sixth grade English vocabulary lists. This article will get you started with some of the words that leading nonprofits use to describe their work....

The recession that began in December 2007 has grown into the longest stretch of high unemployment in the past quarter century. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' November 2009 data shows that nearly 8 million jobs have been lost during the recession. There has been much discussion about the face of unemployment in America, but there has been little attention paid to successful job seekers. What set them apart? What did they do differently? Here are four profiles of professionals, each at a different stage in their career, who have successfully secured new positions during the recession.....