In addition to each Alumni Career Paths panel discussion, we ask our panelists several fundamental questions about their fields so you don't have to! Use the answers they've provided below to get a quick take on whether you want to further investigate this career path, learn about the differences between roles and organizations in this field, and as a starting point for informational interviews if you want to learn more:
- What are the responsibilities of someone in your role?
- Is a postdoc required, recommended, useful, or unnecessary to enter or excel in this field?
- What types of experience are important to highlight in your resume and interview?
- What characteristics make someone good at this position?
- What do the typical application and interview processes entail?
- What possibilities do international folks have to work at your company/organization?
Nonprofits questions answered in September 2021 by:
Sarah Blake, PhD
Staff Associate, Population Council
Mark Peterson, PhD
Senior Program Officer, Global Education, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Nonprofits questions answered in September 2020 by:
Tepring Piquado, PhD
Senior Policy Researcher, RAND Corporation; Professor, Pardee RAND Graduate School; Chief Policy Director, California Issues Forum; CEO, The TMP Group
Stephanie Albin, PhD
Science Program Officer at The Kavli Foundation
Jackie Wirz, PhD
Executive Director, Saturday Academy
What are the responsibilities of someone in your role?
Sarah Blake
Develop projects and proposals, build teams, manage relationships with external partners and donors, manage day to day project implementation for research and technical assistance projects.
Mark Peterson
Making and managing grants
Tepring Piquado
RAND: My responsibilities as a RAND researcher are similar to what you likely understand to be as a university professor. I write grants, support junior staff and students’ development as we work on projects, attend seminars, serve on committees. At RAND, we are not expected to teach, but I have the honor and pleasure of doing so. I co-teach an Ethics course and a Policy in Action course.
Stephanie Albin
One rule of thumb -- the smaller the foundation, the more hats you will wear!
The Kavli Foundation is on the smaller side. As a Science Program Officer, my main job is to develop, implement and monitor the Foundation’s scientific programs -- particularly in neuroscience which is the field I have my PhD in. Pre-COVID, this involved a lot of travel (minimum 20%) to conferences, workshops, and also on site-visits to our Kavli Institutes. On a site-visit, I try to identify any current issues that our institute is facing, see how the Foundation can help with those issues, and also learn about plans for the future. In order to oversee the Foundation’s programs, I do need to stay abreast of current advances and trends in neuroscience research.
In addition to facilitating funding and evaluating funded programs, I also do a decent amount of event organization. We often convene meetings and, as a smaller organization, much of the planning falls on the programmatic staff. This involves developing the meeting agenda, identifying appropriate speakers, sending invitations, etc. There are people who help our meeting attendees book travel, who process reimbursements, and who can help coordinate/secure venues and catering. But as a program officer, I still need to oversee all those aspects.
Other hats I wear: Salesforce administrator, website developer, science communications, and more!
Jackie Wirz
The Executive Director provides the leadership to executing the mission of the organization, and wears many hats in order to do so. This includes overseeing the administration, programs, and strategic plan. On a more granular level, an ED is also responsible for directing fundraising, marketing, community outreach, programming, advocacy, financial management, risk management, compliance and regulatory issues, operations/technology, human resources, board development etc. Depending on the size of the organization, this may involve the management of others who perform these tasks, or the ED may play a significant (or entire) part in a given aspect of the operational execution. Additionally, the executive director reports to the board of directors, and they are responsible for making sure that the board is empowered with the most relevant information and resources to guide the overall organization. In short, an ED has oversight over the entire organization and may have direct responsibilities in any area of the organization. In my experience that has ranged from serving as the Trustee on our 401(k) to approving a new program, developing donor relations events to an internal DEI policy. It’s a truly diverse set of responsibilities, and I am fortunate enough to have a team to help me execute these duties. In turn, I need to lead my team effectively by providing clear guidance and information, while also connecting the organization together across different types of work.
Is a postdoc required, recommended, useful, or unnecessary to enter or excel in this field?
Sarah Blake
Useful
Mark Peterson
Unnecessary
Tepring Piquado
I believe that a postdoc is useful additional training. It is not necessary for a research or policy career.
Stephanie Albin
A postdoc is not required to enter or even excel in my position. However - all the program officers at the foundation have done a post-doc, and some even ran their own labs for a few years before transitioning to work at a non-profit. While not necessary, I do think I benefited from doing a post-doc. My post-doc helped specifically because:
- I expanded my scientific network. I did a post-doc at HHMI Janelia Research Campus and I still interact with many of the people I met there in my current job. Relationships are super important!
- I gained more experience. While this probably isn’t true for everyone, I was solely focused on my research project during my PhD and did not spend a lot of time on community activities. My post-doc did let me broaden my horizons. I was able to be more involved in the community at my institute -- for example, I was a founder and co-president of our post-doc society at Janelia. I also gained experience in organizing meetings and department retreats -- things that are useful in my current position. Doing a post-doc also helped me refine my project management skills since I was able to oversee and collaborate with a broader range of people.
Jackie Wirz
Not required at all! To enter nonprofit work, all you need is a passion to do good work and a track record that speaks to your accomplishments in those areas. A postdoctoral position will help you in the sense that it can further demonstrate some transferable skills (complex communication, project management, financial duties, etc.), but if you have those skills and experience already there is no significant advantage from my point of view. Being able to excel in nonprofits boils down to effectiveness at your job. Period. It doesn’t have to do with where you got your degree, or who your mentor was, or what journals you are publishing in. As long as you can enhance the mission of the organization using your skills, you can succeed in nonprofits.
What types of experience are important to highlight in your resume and interview?
Sarah Blake
Research, project management, proposal development
Mark Peterson
International experience; strategy experience; project management; social impact work; partnerships (e.g. starting up or managing institutional or programmatic partnerships)
Tepring Piquado
RAND: It is important to highlight policy relevant aspects of your graduate, postdoc, or previous professional work. It is helpful to have worked with stakeholders. It is also important to highlight entrepreneurship, the ability to be self-motivated.
Stephanie Albin
Scientific expertise is critical and is something everyone applying to be a program officer will have. I think it is important to highlight other experiences that demonstrate leadership, communication skills, meeting planning, and grant management. For example, I highlighted participation in review panels (NSF GRFP panel as a post-doc) and in event organization (post-doc retreat planning). I used my experience as founder of the post-doc society to highlight my ability to understand the broader needs of the community at Janelia (both scientific and non-scientific needs) and how I worked to address them. I think it is also important to get your passion across -- what do you hope to accomplish in the job you are applying for. Particularly if this job is the first job that deviates from the traditional academic path, people will wonder why you left academia and you’ll have to get across why this choice makes sense through the experiences you highlight.
Jackie Wirz
Communication!! The ability to work well on teams to accomplish a shared goal, having direct experience in DEI and community outreach, dedication to a mission. Also, working through ambiguity is a huge asset – being able to make forward progress even as the landscape is constantly shifting is a huge skill. After that, it depends on the type of job within a nonprofit. For an ED, budget experience is hugely important. After that, fundraising.
What characteristics make someone good at this position?
Sarah Blake
Good communication skills, ability to manage many things at once, patience.
Mark Peterson
Good project management skills; an interest in the field; relevant technical expertise
Tepring Piquado
- RAND: Demonstrating strong research abilities including securing funding. (Or potential to secure funding, if you are junior. This is why a postdoc is useful as another opportunity to practice proposal writing.)
- In the policy/political field: Strong verbal communication skills, ability to work in an atypical work environment, ability to connect with a variety of stakeholders. Strong ability to read legislation and make recommendations based on clients or members’ values and vision.
Stephanie Albin
Strong oral and written skills are very important. Team work and the ability to develop trusted relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders is also critical. The Kavli Foundation works internationally, so some diplomatic skills are a plus too.
I found this website super useful in highlighting the characteristics (“core qualifications” and “fundamental competencies”) that will help someone succeed as a program manager. This website was created to describe qualities required for management in the US government, but I think the characteristics highlighted also hold true for non-profits. These characteristics will help one excel as a program officer, and importantly, also help set you up for a leadership position.
Jackie Wirz
You care deeply about the mission. Nonprofit work is centered around a unique mission statement for each organization, and it should permeate every aspect of the job. Even my finance person, who never attends a Saturday Academy class in person, does her job because she cares about giving students the opportunity to engage in STEM education.
What do the typical application and interview processes entail?
Sarah Blake
It varies a lot - many positions come from or evolve out of consulting, internships or other roles with narrow project responsibilities, sometimes with a limited formal hiring process, while others come from applying to open positions with very specific qualifications. In those cases, there is usually a standard application guidance, often including a writing sample, and 2-3 rounds of interviews.
Mark Peterson
Resume and cover letter; interview questions about relevant experience and technical skills. Fit with team is important. Sometimes a few light case studies / hypothetical situations.
Tepring Piquado
- RAND: Typically, there is an application process that includes a writing sample, screening call(s), a day-long interview with a job talk and then an offer or decline.
- Policy: Depends on the job. Networking is very important to hear about many jobs. My current job was a few interviews with critical colleagues and future stakeholders with whom I’d be working closely.
Stephanie Albin
I found the job listing online and my application consisted of a cover letter and my resume. Once I made the first cut, there was a series of questions that I had to provide a written response to. I also submitted the names of 3 references. Once references were called by HR, I then had a phone interview with HR. Once I passed that screening, I had an in-person interview at the Foundation. Since we are a small Foundation, I was even interviewed by our CEO and President!
During the interview process, I did get asked some of the most common job interview questions - just google for a list. These are things like: what is your biggest weakness, your biggest strength, where do you see yourself in 5 years, etc. The other questions I was asked focused on elaborating on the experiences I highlighted in my cover letter and resume.
Jackie Wirz
The application process begins very traditionally – cover letter, resume. I think that community networking is incredibly important – and there is going to be a lot of “behind the scenes” work that comes with the formal application. For the positions I got the farthest with, I knew board members or was introduced to board members, knew employees, had met the previous ED. My technical qualifications were assessed for sure, but ultimately I feel like it was my personality and philosophy towards work that were most valued in the interview process.
Executive Director positions are protracted interview processes, somewhat akin to being interviewed to be a faculty member. Unlike many other positions where there is an obvious and direct boss, and Executive Director is employed by a board of directors. Like most leadership positions, you may have limited access to the employees directly, which is something that I’ve always found interesting about executive level positions! In all of the ED positions I interviewed for, there was a search firm that was employed by the organization. The search firm had varying levels of involvement – all did some initial screens, but some were prominently involved throughout, whereas others transitioned over to the board or a subcommittee of the board. Being hired by a committee is a lot like working with a committee – it can go well, it can go terribly. I think it is a great way to learn about the board, but it can be frustrating at times to have an interview with 20 people at the same time! As a faculty member, there is the department and the interview committee, small and large group sessions, town halls and stakeholder meetings, but ultimately you have a department chair. A board is a different kind of boss. The interview process therefore ends with a group rather than a singular individual, and can also include all the other interview items like the hiring committee, small/large group sessions, town halls, stakeholders….. Again, extensive interview process, but with a different end point.
What possibilities do international folks have to work at your company/organization?
Sarah Blake
2/3 of my organization is outside the US - and we have offices in 12 countries. There are also sometimes opportunities for international folks to work in US offices.
Mark Peterson
We do hire non-US citizens, but visa sponsorship is generally limited to leadership and senior roles on our program teams.
