Today, some of the biggest challenges facing nonprofit organizations include:
employ nearly 15% of the entire American labor pool. But competitive and economic fundraising challenges have set these organizations back and left them with tighter budgets to apply to hiring at a time when there simply aren’t enough workers to go around.
- Budget constraints
Chief on the list of recruiter complaints surely falls under the financial restraints of most nonprofit organizations. In many fields, nonprofits compete against better funded corporate competitors, and it shows in their ability to reach talent with jobs that attract more candidates into the hiring pool. Job requirements may not be adequately advertised, and this can result in a smaller funnel of workers to choose from. As a result, many nonprofits promote from within. While this is a positive strategy for the career paths of current workers, it is failing to bring in the new blood necessary to sustain these organizations. - Noncompetitive salary and benefits
Unfortunately, smaller budgets mean smaller salaries. This inability to compete against larger nonprofits or corporate competitors on salaries doesn’t always mean organizations won’t attract top candidates, but it rarely helps. Candidates can be attracted to the mission of the nonprofit, seeking a position where they can give back to the community. But when this desire isn’t at the forefront of the candidate’s selection criteria, the nonprofit is at risk of losing top-quality candidates to corporate competitors with bigger budgets and benefits. This could also have an impact on employee retention. Today’s hiring market has pushed recruiters to proactively engage with employed workers to entice them to “jump ship” if they are unhappy. Existing nonprofit employees may be at risk of being stolen away by a higher compensation package. - Lack of a formal recruitment strategy
Smaller nonprofits may spread the hiring functions among existing team members. An Executive Director may wear multiple hats, from operations and fundraising to hiring. In these instances, we typically see these nonprofits lacking a cohesive long-term recruitment strategy to bring in top talent. In most competitive markets, with historically low unemployment, this is a necessity.
In the face of these unprecedented challenges, nonprofit organizations are likely to struggle to find, hire, and retain top talent. But there is one thing they can do now to improve their recruiting efforts. Nonprofit recruiting software can help these organizations achieve their mission.
