Nonprofit recruiters find and place executives in the nonprofit sector, but with a focus on candidates who are financially, morally, and ethically sound due to the importance of public trust. They use the same methods as for-profit recruiters but with added personal and professional verification to protect their clients.
Nonprofit recruiters typically work to identify, recruit, qualify, and place executives into open positions in the nonprofit sector. This type of recruiter performs the same functions as for-profit recruiters, except in a different context. The most important distinction between what non-profit and for-profit recruiters make concerns how candidates are screened and evaluated for jobs. Candidates selected to work for nonprofits generally must be above reproach financially, morally, and ethically, because a nonprofit’s ability to raise money depends on the public’s trust in the organization’s leaders. Many for-profit companies have the luxury of hiring based solely on skill and aptitude for the job.
At a basic level, nonprofit recruiters do the same things as their for-profit counterparts. Recruiters are expected to identify candidates. They do this by posting job advertisements in relevant locations and engaging in a process often referred to as “head hunting”. A head recruiter searches, identifying a qualified nonprofit executive who is currently working and trying to convince him to throw his hat in the ring for an open position at a different organization. Once candidates are identified, nonprofit recruiters must verify their qualifications by checking work histories, conducting interviews, and administering personality and aptitude tests.
Candidates who manage to pass the screening are matched against open positions listed at the recruitment agency. Non-profit recruiters manage the candidate interview process and the company’s customer relationship until a job offer is made. After the candidate is hired for the position and remains in the position for a specified period of time, the company receives a placement fee and the non-profit recruiters begin identifying new candidates to start the process over again.
These roles are the same as those assigned to for-profit recruiters. The difference in the two positions is in the nature of the underlying industries. Non-profit organizations operate on the basis of public trust. If the public loses confidence in an organization’s leadership, donations can dry up. A scandal involving a non-profit executive can put the organization at risk and lead to formal government investigations.
The role of non-profit recruiters in selecting suitable candidates to fill open positions is somewhat more critical in this context than it is for regular businesses. Filling an executive director position at a large cultural institution, for example, can send ripples through the donor base that can immediately impact an organization’s bottom line. Non-profit recruiters should add a level of personal and professional verification to the candidate selection process that protects their clients from poor choices that only become evident after hiring.
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