Paradigm Shifted

I like to read a lot of career blogs.   There is always useful advice being offered, and more interestingly, some intriguing opportunities to view social psychology and organizational behavior at work.  But most career blogs are aimed towards the private sector, or life in the corporate world.  Often some of the advice given is not as useful for me, being in non-profit.

I used to work in corporate America.  I was at a start-up that eventually grew into a corporation.  It was fun at first, but I quickly grew tired of the corporate lifestyle.  I also didn’t like that i wasn’t contributing meaningfully to the world.  I tried to alleviate that by using my skill sets in volunteer work, but it wasn’t really the same thing.

So I switched jobs and switched careers.   In doing so, I hopped the line from the private to the public sector, without actually going public.  I now work in a unique slice of worklife – a nonprofit that is subject to many of the regulations imposed on federal agencies, but operates like academia.  It brings with it its own unique challenges too, in terms of navigating the work place.

Career advice is often about career progression.  i think it holds true in the nonprofit world as well, but not in the same way.  In corporate America, I found a lot more flexibility in terms of advancement.  Positions could be “created” to justify promotions, if the profit motivation was strong enough.  We don’t have that in nonprofit world.  I happen to work somewhere with a large turnover, so promotions are more forthcoming than otherwise would be.  But our “business case” is not as easily made as it can be in the private sector.

Another major difference between nonprofit and corporate life is the entry point.  i found entering corporate America far easier than I did entering the nonprofit arena.  At a nonprofit, it’s not what you know, but who you know.  Often, jobs are posted with someone already in mind; cold applications are rarely acknowledged.   In 5 years at a non-profit, I’ve learned a lot about the ins and outs of NGOs, government agencies, and foundations.  The one clear thing that emerges is the fact that your network is your most important career asset.

But besides these two issues, I really don’t think the differences are so stark.  In both arenas, I dealt with office politics, with restructuring, with salary and benefits issues.  Even balancing work and life is no easier at a nonprofit than it is at a corporation.  So I still think the career blogs are just as useful for me as they ever have been.