Mario Rodriquez ⋅ Tampa, FL CareerSource Tampa Bay ⋅ 10 years experience

Nickolas, unless I missed something you never mentioned what your Master's is in, or what positions you are looking to pursue. I know that having a planned or primary job hunt, then a contingency plan is best for success. Let me know what you are looking for and send me a resume and I will see if I have anything in my pipeline for you. Also, are you staying in NY or are you willing to relocate? Send your resume to Recruiter@duvant.com

Mike Cottell ⋅ Glen Head, NY Michael T Cottell Consulting ⋅ 42 years experience

Hi Nickolas, please work on your LinkedIn profile, it needs work in order to get you the networking support that you need. You need a picture as well as more information on who you are and what your skill sets are. I understand you are just starting out, but having a strong LinkedIn profile is mission critical. Look at mine , just to get a sense for content, obviously I will have more to put in than you at this point in your career, but I want you to get the sense for " selling yourself". Also, please check out this link for great advice,
https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/how-to-become-the-candidate-recruiters-cant-resist/
Thank you for your service and good luck to you , best regards, Mike

Heidi Anderson ⋅ Inver Grove Heights, MN Self Employed Recruiter ⋅ 23 years experience

There are many ways to build a network. You could try sending out LinkedIn requests to leaders at the places you want to work at. I bet they will accept your request and then you can reach out for coffee to learn more about each other. The same goes for recruiters. By linking in to a recruiter you open your network up to hiring managers and new companies. There are many recruiting firms that help place people in non-profit jobs. Perhaps that is also an angle.

I am at United Way right now and they tell me that they often hire from their volunteer pool. They say it's a great way to get to know someone. Another angle that might work for you.

I am in a job search myself and you'd be surprised at all the strangers that are willing to help you.

Bernard Agrest ⋅ Tulsa, OK Teach for America ⋅ 5 years experience

Dear Nickolas,

Thanks very much for your service, and for asking your question!

Congratulations on completing your master's degree - thats a huge accomplishment!

Policy and non-profit work can oftentimes be difficult to break into. Policy work in particular requires a combination of experience and education that is difficult to get - and because it's oftentimes interesting work there is a large amount of applications for a comparatively small number of jobs.

There are also a large number of industries that these jobs fall in - Policy can break into education, economic, housing, foreign, etc. etc.

Non-profits also differ - some are community centers, other focus on research, or others have a specific target demographic.

In terms of finding a job within those two fields I would suggest that you do the following:

1) Figure out what field(s) of policy/non-profit work you are interested in,
2) Create a list of organizations within those field(s) that you would like to work for,
3) Create a list of targeted jobs that you would qualify for (there are huge differences between research jobs and community organizing) based on your skillset and educational background,
4) Network - use Linkedin, your Undergraduate and your Master's Career Service, etc, etc.

I would also suggest you take a look at websites such as Idealist.org - they offer hundreds of job listings in policy and non-profit work.

Feel free to reach out to me directly if you have any questions, and I'll be happy to help you out further!

Best,

-Bernard.