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If you don’t have experience working in the charity sector how are you supposed to get a job in it?

This is a good question and, you might be surprised to learn, highly topical. The recent downturn has seen the not-for-profit sector literally swamped with jobseeker applications; many of whom may never have considered ‘charity work’ had they not been made redundant.

The recession coincided with the Government promising to continue recruitment spends within the public sector, and this, of course, included many charity organisations. This ‘guarantee’ was considered a safe bet for employment in comparison to financial and industrial-type sectors many of the redundancies had come/are coming from.

Until (circa) June this year the charities could not believe their luck. All of a sudden they were able to attract previously disinterested marketers. Now they had bright, commercially-focused folk bringing innovative ideas to a traditionally languid sector (at least it has been perceived to be) and applying for marketing jobs in their droves.

Now, and quite unsurprisingly, the Government has gone back on a lot of its promised public sector funding and the good times have receded. Although not entirely stopped.

…this brings me to the answer:

First of all you have a good range of skills useful for charities, which have been traditionally performed badly (and to be fair to them, struggled) where PR is concerned. Events have always remained high on the agenda. This is good for you because whilst PR has improved, there is still some way to go.

You have as much chance of getting into the charity sector as any other you have no previous experience of, though the extra work with children clearly leads you down this path. How much benefit this has will depend on the experience of other applicants. Charities ALWAYS want people who naturally empathise with their cause, particularly in PR-related areas.

When applying for roles in any sector outside your general experience, make sure you cover letter is specific to the position – and do your research. Comment with sincerity about why you want to work for that particular organisation and what benefits you can offer them.

Also, charities are becoming more socially-savvy, so make sure you are hanging out in their spaces. Straight off the bat you should be joining relevant LinkedIn groups. Here’s one within the OMJ pages: http://bit.ly/Yr6WZ

Don’t expect a quick turnaround; where charity’s concerned, persistence is a key virtue.

Good luck

Simon Lewis | Only Marketing Jobs

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