HOTLINE

Providing Advice on Former Bosses Who Hold a Grudge, Finding Volunteer Opportunities, and More

The Chronicle's Career Network asked its readers to submit questions about job hunting, recruitment, and management challenges in the nonprofit world. In our monthly advice column, we respond to some of your inquiries with tips about resources and wisdom from experts in the field.

Q. Can you tell me how to handle a reference from a prior employer who, for personal reasons, may not give me a good reference? It is a key job in my résumé and one I am proud of, but I don't trust the former employer. What do I tell -- or not tell -- my potential employer?

A. Your first strategy: damage assessment, says Pat Berg, general manager of career-management services at Personnel Decisions International, in Minneapolis, who counsels many people who work at nonprofit organizations.

If possible, she says, you should sit down with your previous supervisor, have a conversation about your differences, and find out what he or she is willing to say about you. If it goes well, you might be able to even work together on a recommendation in writing that your former boss could sign.

If you're on really bad terms with your prior boss, then you'll want to find someone else that you had a good relationship with at the organization and ask them to give you a recommendation. If you pursue this strategy, prepare not to use your primary supervisor as your key reference during the job interview, says Ms. Berg. When you're asked about your reasons for leaving that key job, you'll want to steer clear of anything that suggests you've had personality differences. Any potential employer is going to at least raise an eyebrow at the suggestion that you have a former supervisor who holds a grudge against you. Instead, focus on differences in your philosophy or mission with your former organization's mission and philosophy -- a conflict that Ms. Berg says is more readily understood in the nonprofit world. "Talk about your values and where you are in your career and what you want to accomplish at the new organization," she says.

Finally, make sure that you keep the focus on your positive attributes and not this one sour relationship. In any job-seeking process, she says, "you need to focus on what you have to sell and what value you bring to the organization and not dwell on negative information."

Q. I'm a fund-raising and marketing executive who lost his job as a result of September 11. I'm now opening a fund-raising consulting firm, as a backup. To help me hone my job search here in South Florida, where can I get a list of local nonprofit organizations and charities? Also, could you recommend other local resources for networking? (I already belong to the Association of Fundraising Professionals and attend their monthly meetings.) In addition, any ideas for marketing my consulting business would be welcome.

A.Your first step should be to decide whether you're looking for a job -- or whether you really want to start your own firm. Starting a business is no small task, and it's not something that you'll be able to do right if you're siphoning off part of your time and energy into a job search. It could put prospective clients off if they suspect that you might drop their project when you get a full-time job, says Diane Darling, chief executive officer of DigitalEve, in Boston, a nonprofit association for women in technology and business. And, by the same token, it might not make the best impression if you wear your consultant's hat to get in the door at a potential employer, and then switch into a pitch for a full-time position.

Regardless of the path you choose, developing a network of business acquaintances is certainly the best strategy to gain either a new boss or new clients -- and you're well on your way by attending monthly meetings of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, says Ms. Darling. In addition, she suggests that you list everyone that you worked with or for when you were employed, and use that as a start for your own network. "Talk to former clients and colleagues and ask them what you do well, and would they recommend you," she advises.

You can find more opportunities to make contact with people through the Florida Association of Nonprofit Organizations (http://www.fano.org). Other states have similar groups that can be found through the National Council of Nonprofit Associations (http://www.ncna.org/states.htm). The Florida association offers workshops and classes that also provide networking opportunities, and its annual conference, to be held May 6-7 in Coral Gables, is another place to meet potential bosses or clients.

You'll find a comprehensive list of charitable organizations in Florida on a Web site run by the state's Division of Consumer Services (http://www.800helpfla.com/soc.html). Many state regulators maintain lists like this.

If you decide that you do want to set up your own consulting firm and are looking for ways to market your new business, set a geographic limit on the area that you'll concentrate on, says Colette Murray, president-elect of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the head of an executive-search consulting company, Paschal Murray, in San Diego. If you need to establish a track record as a consultant, she also recommends building your portfolio by providing pro bono work -- but take care to select a project with a defined beginning and end. "Otherwise," she says, "you could get sucked into being pro bono for life."

Q. I want to get more meaning from my work and use the skills I have developed in the for-profit world over the last 13 years to make a difference. What is the best way to go from the for-profit world to the nonprofit one? And what is the best way to find a listing of nonprofit organizations in my native Seattle area where I might be able to volunteer?

A. You're starting out on the right path already. One of the best ways to make that transition is to establish yourself as a committed volunteer, says Terrie Temkin, president of NonProfit Management Solutions, a Hollywood, Fla., consulting company that provides coaching for people who want to leave the for-profit world and enter the nonprofit one. While volunteering gets you used to working in the collaborative culture of charities, it also will help you when you're searching for a paying position, says Ms. Temkin. You will learn how to cast your useful for-profit experience in a way that will pique the interest of nonprofit recruiters, she says. For instance, when you're describing your experience in the for-profit world as a facilities manager, you'd want to stress that your commitment to maintenance will enable the organization to spend less on operations, and more on programs.

There are several ways to find places to donate your time and talents. The National Council of Nonprofits (see Web address above) can links to state associations that can provide guidance. You might also want to try the following sites that put volunteers and charities together:

Volunteer Match. Go to http://www.volunteermatch.org

The Points of Light Foundation. Go to http://www.volunteerconnections.org/VCP_volunteercentermap.cfm

Idealist.org. http://www.idealist.org

A series of articles about preparing to volunteer can be found at http://www.ServiceLeader.org, a project of the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service at the University of Texas at Austin. When you're ready to look for a paying position, check out "Job Searching," an article by Mary Stewart Hall, a professor at Seattle University's Center for Nonprofit and Social Enterprise Management, on the university's Not-for-Profit Leadership Program's Web site. It's full of specific tips to finding a charity job in Washington State, and links to nonprofit employment listings in your area.

Q. I am looking into Dress for Success, a nonprofit organization that supplies suits and training to women who are transitioning from welfare into the work force. Dress for Success is established in more than 70 cities and offers support and expertise to founders of new affiliates. This is very appealing to me because my experience is not specific to nonprofit organizations. Before I make a commitment, I would like to explore similar opportunities -- meaning charities that are established and offer support to their new affiliates. Where do you suggest I look for these opportunities?

A. Unfortunately, there isn't an easy way to compile a list of nonprofit groups that offer support to affiliates. The only way to gather this information is through some legwork. Determine what national organizations are of interest to you, and then make contact with them to find out what kind of local presence they have, and how you might fit in with their missions. You can learn more about the different ways you can approach an organization on the Delaware Association of Nonprofit Agencies' Web site. Go to http://www.delawarenonprofit.org/StartUpFaqB.htm

Because you say that you don't have specific nonprofit experience, you'll want to gather some information on what it takes to run a charity. While Dress for Success, which has its headquarters in New York City, offers some support to its affiliates, including help in obtaining grants, it is by no means a training school for novice nonprofit managers, says Cassandra Cramer, executive director of Dress for Success's affiliate in Fort Wayne, Ind. The national organization expects that you'll be able to run your own independent organization, she says, and they'll ask you to explain exactly how you'll do that in a business plan before they'll accredit you.

Whether you decide to go with Dress for Success or not, you'll want to learn more about starting and running a charity. You can find information on this through organizations that offer management help to nonprofit groups. For a list of these, go to http://www.idealist.org/support.html#SEC35. Ms. Cramer also recommends Nonprofit Kit for Dummies, by Stan Hutton and Frances Phillips (Hungry Minds, $29.99) and suggests About.com's guide to starting a nonprofit group, which Ms. Cramer says she relied on heavily as she started her affiliate. Go to http://nonprofit.about.com/cs/startanonprofit/. For more resources on founding a charity, take a look at last month's Hotline.

Got a question about job hunting, recruiting, or managing in the nonprofit world? Send it to us at hotline@philanthropy.com.