Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sitting down with all of the senior team members at DRiWaterstone Human Capital to find out, in their own words, what drives them and why DRiWaterstone is one of North America’s top executive search firms for the non-profit and social impact sectors. First up, President and CEO, Jennifer Dunlap:
- How does your background in the non-profit sector influence your approach to executive search?
At the core of DRiWaterstone is our belief in the organizations we work with, our clients, and in what they do and why. I take very seriously our impact and feel the weight of what we do. I believe that what we do matters – it has a significant impact on an organization’s ability to deliver their critically needed services.
If a search doesn’t work out – it’s not just money. There’s a negative impact on our clients’ services and on the people they serve. And that’s just unacceptable. Having grown up in the non-profit sector, having lived that for 25 years, that’s at the core of why I do what I do. It isn’t just a search; it’s helping an organization find the right leadership to move them and their mission forward.
- What kind of bench strength does your team bring to mission and purpose-driven clients?
All of our senior consultants have worked in the non-profit or social impact sector. They all come to us having real understanding in those sectors. They are purpose and mission driven individuals and know how to hire for that.
Our Executive Search Associates, administrative support, and consultants all come from a wide variety of backgrounds, but they have one thing in common – they’ve all made a conscious decision to work for an organization that supports mission and purpose-driven organizations. Some worked in non-profit, some worked in corporate and were unsatisfied – that commitment to the mission and purpose-driven organizations we service is the commonality.
The whole team believes what we’re doing is important and that we’re doing it for important organizations.
- Why should mission and purpose-driven organizations consider working with a firm like DRiWaterstone to fill their leadership roles?
There are a few reasons. One is productivity cost. A lot of organizations don’t understand the cost of not recruiting the right person at the right time. They may say “we can do this ourselves,” or “we can’t afford a recruiter,” but then all of a sudden it’s been nine months and the role still isn’t filled. That has a cost associated with it.
Another reason to work with DRiWaterstone is that you’re working with a partner who understands not just the industry but the individual organizations. We’re a world class firm that does this work at a price point that’s appropriate and affordable for most non-profit organizations, and we work with our clients to develop relationships not just complete assignments. That’s really what we want to do, not just a series of one-off searches. For example, I’ve been doing searches with the AARP and the AARP Foundation since 2002. I understand the AARP enterprise so I can assess candidates on technical expertise, but also on their alignment to the culture and what it takes to be successful at AARP.
At DRiWaterstonewe bring expertise and value, but we also care about what we’re doing.
Read part two of our interview with Jennifer Dunlap.
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At DRiWaterstone, we work with mission and purpose-driven organizations across the U.S. to help them build mission and purpose driven teams. We’d love the chance to work with you – reach out today and book a meeting with our team and find out how we can help.
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Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sitting down with all of the senior team members at DRiWaterstone Human Capital to find out, in their own words, what drives them and why DRiWaterstone is one of North America’s top executive search firms for the non-profit and social impact sectors.
This week, we’re continuing our conversation with President and CEO, Jennifer Dunlap:
- What do you want candidates to know about working in the non-profit space?
What I tell candidates who are considering making the move from corporate is first, working in the non-profit space feeds your soul in a way many other organizations just can’t because you’re actually making a difference in peoples’ lives, you’re not just trying to make money for someone else.
Non-profits have tight budgets and that often means they don’t have the same staffing for-profit companies do. So, particularly young people who are early on in their careers, they can get a lot of exposure to several areas and often are given significant authority and responsibility much sooner than they might in the corporate word. If you can write, if you’re organized, if you’re a relationship builder, and if you have a passion for mission, you can do just about anything in this sector.
At the end of the day, it just feels different to work in the non-profit sector because what you do really does matter, and really does impact lives.
- What advice do you have for non-profit organizations looking to attract top talent in today's job market?
First, non-profits can’t assume somebody just wants to work for them because they have a great mission. A great mission must be accompanied by the right benefits or salary or support. Candidates have a lot of options now, so organizations have to be competitive to attract talent.
Organizations also have to be competitive to retain talent. I worked for CARE USA for 10 years – no one does that anymore. Part of that is because non-profits aren’t creative enough in how they engage and compensate people. I’ll give you an example: in most non-profits, to get a raise you need to get a promotion. When that happens, they’re thinking vertically not horizontally. They don’t always think of compensation options that are based on skills, success, professional development, and contribution to the organization and not just on the salary band for a particular job, or options like retention or performance-based bonuses that can be more common in for-profit organizations.
There’s so much competition now, so non-profits need to think more wholistically about how to keep talented staff.
- What do you love most about working in the non-profit sector?
I got into this area because I grew up very poor and the community was very supportive of us as a family. So, when I went to college, I had the opportunity in my senior year to be a Vista Volunteer. The minute I was placed with the United Way in Rochester, I immediately felt that I was in the right place. I was able to work with a variety of non-profits and saw that these organizations were doing good work and needed my skills, insights, and experience to help them deliver on their mission. That was very attractive to me.
I spent 25 years, in the non-profit sector. I’ve done unbelievable things and been unbelievable places. I’ve seen horrible devastation. When I first worked for CARE USA, they sent me to Ethiopia to work in the feeding camps. This was during the famine in the 80s. I saw horrible devastation and human suffering, but it gave me such respect for my colleages and a real understating that the best thing I could do was go back to the U.S. and raise money so the folks in the field could do their work. So that sense that you’re part of a team and what you’re doing has real impact, that’s what keeps me focused on purpose and mission-driven organizations. And that’s what drives purpose and mission-driven candidates.
--
At DRiWaterstone, we work with mission and purpose-driven organizations across the U.S. to help them build high-performance teams. We’d love the chance to work with you – reach out today and book a meeting with our team and find out how we can help.
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