#NES

Tag: #NES

Tips for Preparing for your Non-Profit Career

Volunteer:

One of the best things you can do to bulk up your resume for a future career in Non-Profit work is volunteering. Volunteering is also a great way to figure out what causes you are passionate about and want to seek when you are applying for your future careers. Here at Lawrence, it is very easy to get involved with the Appleton community through volunteering. Lawrence’s GivePulse page has hundreds of opportunities for students to sign up for to get you started.

Ask your local community:

Also going along the lines of volunteering, asking around your local community to see what their needs are is also beneficial. You can hear about the local non-profits that they know, or even ones that offer remote internships or funded ones. Word of mouth is a great way to find out opportunities and exactly what your local community needs in a non-profit worker.

Search for summer internships:

Another great way to get your foot in the door of non-profit work is through summer internships! Lawrence’s Handshake page has a bunch of non-profit internships listed all throughout the year, and you can also check out websites such as Indeed.com and Internships.com to find others as well. Internships are a great way to get an in-depth experience of what it is like to work in a particular field.

Find causes you are passionate about:

The causes of a non-profit company could range anywhere from arts and music to diversity and inclusion. The possibilities really are endless on what kind of non-profit you see yourself working in, however, how do you choose just one? Through your volunteer work, asking your local community, and pursuing job and internship openings you should get a good idea on where exactly you want to end up. Try to find the cause that you are the most passionate about, and use that cause as a keyword when conducting your latest job or internship search.

Tips for Talking About Your Volunteer and Service Experience

Tip 1: Think about it like any other job

The mindset that most people get tripped up on while thinking about their volunteer experience is “Well, I didn’t get paid for it so it doesn’t matter”. Because of this they end up not talking about the enriching experiences they had while volunteering, which is a really big misconception! To get out of this mindset we recommend thinking and talking about your volunteer experience as any job. For example, if you were talking about a part-time retail job you once worked at you may mention in an interview “My experience in retail allowed me to gain organization and collaboration skills”.You could say almost the exact same things for volunteer experience as well! Let’s say you are a volunteer at Riverview Gardens here in Appleton. You work with others to winterize gardens and take inventory of plants. If you wanted to talk about your volunteer experience while at Riverview Gardens you could say, “My experience at Riverview Gardens allowed me to gain organization and collaboration skills.” Thinking about your volunteer experience like your job experience makes it easier to translate during an interview. 

Tip 2: Relate your volunteer and service experience to your career field

If you happened to volunteer in the particular career field you would like to end up in, you’re in luck! You can use this experience as a core interview response for, most likely, quite a few questions. If you are planning on pursuing a career in theatre arts, it might be helpful to mention your volunteer experience at a non-profit theatre, traveling theatre, etc. For example, employers may ask you the question “What drew you to apply for this position?” In terms of the theatre arts example, you can answer “I always knew I wanted to pursue a career in theatre, however, my experience volunteering at Skylight Music Theatre in Milwaukee really solidified my motives…” Using your passion as a segway into talking about an experience is very moving for the employer and shows how dedicated you would be to the position that you are applying to. 

Tip 3: Describe the success you had 

Even though sometimes we are plagued with dreaded questions like “Tell me about a time you failed” in an interview, employers really do like to hear about your successes as well. If during your volunteer or service experience you had a leadership position, headed a project, or even just got positive reinforcement from colleagues, feel free to mention this during your interview. An example of this is when an employer asks you a question about your collaboration skills, such as “Tell me about a time you worked as a group, how did it turn out?” A possible start to your answer could be, “During my time with Habitat for Humanity I was a group leader for the volunteers…” This answer would show how your volunteer experience put you in a leadership position and how you handled that position.

Sample Behavioral Interview Questions

It’s time to practice for your interview! While knowing what experiences you have had in the past is very important, knowing how to answer behavioral questions can make the difference between being hired or not. Behavioral questions are designed to learn how you would respond to a specific workplace situation, and how you solve problems to achieve a successful outcome. Here is a list of possible behavioral questions that they could ask you divided into different sections.

Teamwork

With teamwork behavioral questions, interviewers get a sense of whether or not you like working on a team, how well you work in groups, and what role you tend to take on a team project (leader, mediator, follower..). These questions also show whether you are easy to get along with, which is important in almost any work environment.

  • Talk about a time when you had to work closely with someone whose personality was very different from yours
  • Give me an example of a time you faced a conflict while working on a team. How did you handle that?
  • Tell me about a time you wish you’d handled a situation differently with a colleague

Client-facing skills

Client-facing skills behavioral questions give interviewers a way to see how you react to different kind of clients. What would happen if the client is frustrated, or if there a large number of clients waiting and how you can handle that pressure.

  • Tell me about a time when you made sure a customer was pleased with your service
  • Describe a time when you had to interact with a difficult client. What was the situation, and how did you handle it?
  • When you’re working with a large number of customers, it’s tricky to deliver excellent service to them all. How do you go about prioritizing your customers’ needs?

Ability to adapt

The ability to adapt is a very important soft skill that is required in any job. The way you answer these questions will give a sense of how you are able to adapt in a new working space and how flexible you are to change and adjust to new situations.

  • Tell me about a time you were under a lot of pressure. What was going on, and how did you get through it?
  • Give me an example of a time when you had to think on your feet in order to delicately extricate yourself from a difficult or awkward situation
  • Tell me about a time you failed. How did you deal with the situation?
  • Tell me about how you worked effectively under pressure

Time management skills

Time management is another very important skill to have. When one of these questions is asked, make sure you are clear about how you managed your time carefully, what tools did you use and why did those tools help.

  • Describe a long term project you managed. How did you keep everything moving along in a timely manner?
  • Tell me about a time you set a goal for yourself. How did you go about ensuring that you would meet your objective?
  • Tell me about a time you had to be very strategic in order to meet all your top priorities

Communication skills

The ability to communicate is closely evaluated in a job interview. Some recruiters will not ask questions directly related to communication in the interview but just see how the candidate is able to communicate during the interview. However, other recruiters might ask you behavioral questions that show the candidate’s communication skills with a real life example.

  • Tell me about a successful presentation you gave and why you think it was a hit
  • Tell me about a time you had to explain something fairly complex to a frustrated client. How did you handle the situation?

Motivation and values

Motivation and values behavioral questions are asked to see what values and what kind of personality the candidate has. It is important to always be honest and show how your personality could be an asset for the company. 

  • Tell me about a time you saw a problem and took the initiative to solve it rather than waiting for someone else to do it
  • Tell me about your proudest accomplishment in work or school
  • Tell me about a mistake you’ve made. How did you handle it?
  • Tell me about a challenging situation you overcame at work
  • Tell me five things that you are NOT

How to prepare to answer behavioral questions

Read the job description carefully. Make a list of the top skills or qualifications it calls for. Think of a story that demonstrates your ability in each area. Following the STAR technique, write your stories down, including the situation, task, action and result. Then, practice saying them out loud several times. Your answers should only take about 1 ½ to 3 minutes. In order to make a good impression, telling stories that are related to each one of these questions is crucial. Telling stories is the best way to be remembered by the recruiter.

Practice is the best way to succeed at behavioral interviews. If you would like to practice doing behavioral interviews, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me (oliver.decroock@lawrence.edu) or Grace Kutney (grace.kutney@lawrence.edu).

Oliver De Croock ’24, Student-Athlete at Lawrence University majoring in Economics and Career Peer Educator. Connect with me on LinkedIn.

Job Prospects for Humanities Majors

By Jonathan Hogan

If you’re a humanities major, you may have received some pessimistic or rude comments about your choice of major. As a German major, I am personally sick of people thinking that all I do is study the language of German, and I’ve heard people tell English majors that they’re “majoring in a language that they already speak fluently.” Regardless of your humanities major, whether it be History, Gender Studies, a language, or something else, I hope you haven’t internalized the discourse that demands that your prospects are dim. As this article will demonstrate, humanities majors have the widest array of careers to choose from, making your problem not a lack of opportunities, but rather the difficult decision of which path to take.

Before delving into some of the main career paths taken by humanities majors, it’s worth mentioning that one of the distinct specialties of those holding humanities majors is finding niche positions to work in that likely won’t be enumerated because of their specificity. Thus, if nothing listed is in your interests, don’t fret! This is merely a broad and by no means an exhaustive list. If you know with all your heart that you want to work as a religious advisor at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, then go for it! 

Law

               One of the most common majors that apply and are accepted to Law school is English. This shouldn’t be a surprise, as both humanities majors and law degrees require a mastery of language, as well as the ability to analytically read and critically think about texts. If a law degree sounds interesting to you, click this link to read an article on the first step to applying for law school—the LSAT.

Publishing

               Similar to Law, the field of publishing plays into a strong connection with written language. In comparison to Law, publishing places more of an emphasis on a love of books, networking abilities, and editing skills. For an article on what it’s like to work as an editor, click this link, and for an article on how to break into the relatively tight-knit industry, click here.

NGOs

               Okay, NGO can mean a lot of things, ranging from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative political think tank, to Médecins Sans Frontières; however, the humanities can also mean a lot of things, making NGOs a potential place of work for essentially any major. The Center for Reproductive Rights, for example, would pair nicely with the Butlerian gender theorist out there, and Public Allies, an NGO dedicated to social justice through representative leadership, would pair nicely with a History major, or really any major that focuses on inequality in general.

Journalism

               Another popular path for humanities majors is journalism. Because of the broad range of subjects that are written on, the only real requirement for Journalism is strong writing skills; however, Journalists are most effective when they can pair their strong writing skills with deep background knowledge in another area. For this reason, humanities majors are especially well-positioned to go into the field, as they typically command a deep well of knowledge on a specific topic, as well as immaculate writing skills.

Academia

               For those of you who have read the above career industries and are struggling with the idea of giving up theorizing and researching for more general use of skills developed at Lawrence, academia might be for you. One of the major advantages of going into academia is that, if a doctoral program really wants you, they will ensure that you aren’t losing money when pursuing your degree through fellowships and undergrad teaching positions. That being said, academia in general, is going through a major upheaval in the U.S. and the humanities appear to be suffering more than STEM and Social Science Departments. When asking your favorite professor for advice about pursuing a doctoral program in a humanities field, a question that will likely come up is: “would you still choose to pursue your doctorate even if you knew that it wasn’t going to lead to a job in academia?” If the answer is no, then it’s probably advisable to find a different outlet for your passion. If the answer; however, is yes, then you’ve just determined your next step for after Lawrence.

               A short list of five broad industries in which humanities majors typically find themselves working likely has not solved all of your professional development problems; however, hopefully, it has pointed you towards an industry that you might want to learn more about. In the worst case, however, this article can serve as a good tool for fending off anyone who’s mocking your decision to major in the humanities—just say you’re planning on going to law school 😊. 

Jonathan is a Third Year German and Government major. He works as a Peer Educator to assist students in the CJW and GLI career communities. In addition to professional development, Jonathan is interested in the cultural construction of the modern nation-state, normative constraints on rational behavior, and all things German. You can schedule an appointment with him here to improve your resume, learn more about the CJW and GLI career opportunities, and work on anything else professional development-related.

Idealist.org Review for #NES Community

Idealist.org is great for students who may not have their teaching certification yet, looking for non-profit work or mission-driven experiences. In the #NES Community, you can find relevant education and non-profit work easily through their search engine, and many of their opportunities are entry-level! Not only do they have jobs and internships but they also have relevant volunteer and graduate programs listed. This site is definitely a good catch-all source for those looking for relevant NES experience. Thankfully, the site is also well organized.

Their site is very easy to navigate, especially for students who are used to searching on Handshake. You just type in keywords for the field you are interested in, the area you are looking around, and then select if you are looking for “Jobs”, “Internships”, “Volunteer”, “Organizations” “Mutual Aid Groups” or “Grad Programs. There are also many other filters that can be used to apply to your search, such as “Job Function”, “Issue Areas”, “Education Level” and so much more! You can really curate the search to exactly what you are looking for, which is very helpful in narrowing down the thousands of search results. Once you find an opportunity you are interested in, then you can apply directly on their site, or it will direct you to the company site where you can apply. Depending on your specific field of interest, for those in the NES Community, we suggest using keywords such as “education”, “teaching”, “non-profit”, “social”, “fundraising” and “giving” to help kick-start your search. 

Idealist.org also has many resources listed on the bottom of its website. They have career resources and also grad resources for applying to grad school. They have hundreds of articles aimed at helping you find the perfect opportunity to apply to next!

Overall, Idealist.org is a very useful tool for searching for jobs, internships, and other opportunities. Those in the NES community should definitely check out what Idealist has to offer since they have thousands of opportunities and also many resources for applying and maintaining your opportunity. 

#NES Summer Opportunity Guide

Choose: 

One of the hardest parts about pursuing a summer program in any field is choosing one that is right for you. Thankfully for the NES community there is a wide range of summer opportunities to choose from. Schools and community centers are always looking to have an extra hand at helping out. 

  1. Location:

First you will want to choose where you want to complete your summer program. Do you want to stay within driving distance of your home town to spend time with your family over the summer? Do you want to travel to a new city you’ve been wanting to explore? Maybe you just want to live in Appleton and live on campus for the summer? There are many different options, however, location is the first thing you should consider before searching for summer opportunities since it will narrow down your search by a lot. 

  1.  Paid vs. Unpaid

The next thing to consider while searching for summer opportunities is if you will be paid for your work or not. Some opportunities may pay you in a stipend or bi-weekly in paychecks. Others, especially non-profits, may not pay you at all for your work. Some may even ask you to pay them for the opportunity, especially in certain arts settings (these opportunities may offer work study). If you have found a summer opportunity that you enjoy but it is unpaid, don’t worry! Lawrence has quite a bit of funding to offer for summer experiences. 

  1. What do YOU want to gain from the experience

There are so many different experiences that look amazing on a resume. Though some opportunities are at more “prestigious” places that doesn’t mean you wont get equally as good opportunities at smaller programs.  A Curating Internship at the Smithsonian can be equally as rewarding as a Curating internship at the History Museum at the Castle right here in Appleton. If you find an opportunity or program that looks like something you would like to do, apply for it! It doesn’t need to be at a big name company for the experience to be rewarding. Find one that works best for you and what you would like to do with your career. 

Prepare: 

Well, you’ve narrowed down summer opportunities you would like to apply for… now what? Next it is time to prepare and send in your application. Depending on how many opportunities you are applying for, this could take awhile so be sure you have your deadlines in order before diving in.

  1. Application Materials

Most internships and programs require you to submit a resume. If you need resume help check out our article here or create an appointment at the career center and we can get you started! You may also need to create a cover letter to go along with your application, you can see a sample cover letter here. Be sure to triple check deadlines in order to get your materials in on time! 

  1. Gather References

References get handed in with your other application materials, however, they require a little more explaining. Many opportunities require you to list references for the company to reach out to to learn more about you. Some opportunities require you to list your academic advisor or current employer, but many leave it up to you who you want to list. We suggest listing any teachers, current or past employers who know you and your work ethic very well. 

  1. Interview

Interviews are probably the scariest part about the application process; you are so close to getting the position but the interview can really make or break the employer’s decision. Before your interview we suggest creating a mock interview appointment with us at the Career Center. We will conduct the entire appointment like it were your actual interview and then give you feedback on how you did and how to improve. Doing a mock interview with a friend also works well, and ensures you aren’t extremely nervous during your actual interview. 

Happy Applying!

Written by Marissa Lake ’22 Career Peer Educator