Attracting Young Leaders of Tomorrow – Let’s get Creative!

When I tell people I work in the non-profit sector, many come back with questions like: “Can you make a living out of it?” or ”Do you go help people like you feed the hungry?” or “Did you choose your job because it give you a good feeling at the end of a work day?” As superficial as these questions sound, they show that there is a skewed understanding or stereotypes of non-profit work and the voluntary sector. Especially for the “Y” generation or “Millennials” (those who are born after 1980), working for a non-profit may not be on the top of their list of desirable career paths as the most glamorous jobs offering high pay or a well established corporate ladder to climb! In 2009, an annual survey conducted by the HR Council based in Ottawa suggests that:

“[In] a total sample of 16,688 students from 50 post-secondary institutions across Canada. The majority – 84% – were university students, most pursuing an undergraduate degree.

A total of 1,732 students surveyed (10%) indicated an interest in a nonprofit career in response to a question that allowed multiple responses; in this summary report, this group of students is identified as “Nonprofit Sector: A Possible Career Choice.” When asked which (one) type of organization they would prefer to work for following graduation, 988 students (5.9% of the total sample) chose “non-profit/charity/social enterprise”; this group of students is identified as “Nonprofit Sector: A Preferred Career Choice.”

Statistics like this have the soon-to-be retired Executive Directors, Managers, recruiters, and workers in the non-profit sector worried – who will be the leaders of tomorrow? Without a definite answer, perhaps it is time for us to get creative! In the past two weeks, it just happened that I was informed of many of such creative attempts to encourage the young and the motivated to get involved in their community by promoting the voluntary sector in a different way. To name a few:

• HR Council is looking for young nonprofit employees to profile in new video series to promote the nonprofit/voluntary sector as career choices.
• Urban Exposure Project 2010: Poverty in Our Community - a project of United Way’s 2335 initiative encouraging interested photographers between the age 23 and 35 to give their time to document and express what they learn about poverty.
• PhotoPhilanthropy.org - an online space and forum recognizing photographers around the world pushing for social change through their images of local non-profit works. 

Perhaps it is difficult to change people’s perception on the characteristics of nonprofit jobs and voluntary work, it is possible to encourage and excite people to be involved in many other innovative and non-traditional ways.