Women: Steer Your Career and Get Where You Want to Go

Today’s post is from our friend, Gloria Martinez, of Women Led, which aims to celebrate women’s achievements in the workplace and is dedicated to increasing the number of women-led corporations, organizations, and small businesses by educating others about women-led achievements.

We’d all love to see more of that, wouldn’t we? If you’re a woman who wants to take a more intentional approach to your career, listen up! Gloria will provide you with practical tips to steer your career and get where you want to go.

Photo by Christina Morillo from Pexels

Do you remember when you were a kid and someone asked what you wanted to be when you grew up? Maybe you said something practical like a teacher or nurse, or maybe you said something outlandish like being a lion tamer. Whatever our dreams are, it’s all too common for women to lose sight of those goals somewhere along the way, or else struggle to make them happen.

This is an unfortunate reality of being a woman in the workplace, and it’s just as common in the nonprofit and social enterprise sectors. But when you know you’ll face barriers, you can either head for the hills and run . . . or find practical strategies to break them down!

Never Stop Learning

The folks at Signify know how important it is to outsource skills that are outside your realm of knowledge. That’s why so many nonprofits and socially driven companies hire them for their copywriting and marketing expertise. At the same time, it’s just as important to recognize when you may be lacking skills or knowledge that would help your career move forward.

Even as you have to fill several roles at once, it’s unreasonable to expect yourself to be an expert at everything. Instead, continue gaining skills that will serve you the most. If you find that you want to branch out into a new arena, you may need a degree to get where you want to be. Alternatively, if you simply want to advance the skills you already have, enrolling in an online university is a great option for busy women who are also working. And for a crash course in a specific topic, take a look at LinkedIn Learning and HubSpot Academy.

Lastly, always look for opportunities to continue growing your skills, including both hard and soft skills. Take any chance you get to attend seminars, take online master classes, and read current blogs and books that are relevant in your field.

Listen and Lead

Learning happens in everyday life too, but that doesn’t mean that learning opportunities will simply fall in your lap. If you don’t already have a mentor, seek out a person who has the skills and experience you want to acquire. This may be a leader you work with, or the perfect mentor could be someone outside of your organization.

We all need mentors, whether you’re already in a leadership position or that’s something you aspire to. That’s because the best leaders are those who are willing to admit that they don’t know everything—but are always open to learning. As the website Diversity Woman suggests, one of the best ways to gain more experience, and ultimately learn what you need to move forward, is to ask for more responsibility.

Own Your Ambition

Too many women in the workforce have internalized the idea that we’re supposed to be humble. Sure, we all have to acknowledge what we don’t know, or else we’d never grow. But being humble becomes a problem when it turns into self-doubt.

That’s why Business Insider tells us how important it is to own our ambition. Do you have big hopes and dreams? Great! Now own them and your ambition to achieve them. Just as we have to listen and learn to be good leaders, we also have to acknowledge our accomplishments, talents, and strengths.

Ask for What You Want

A similar issue is when women fail to prioritize their needs in the workplace. This is especially common in nonprofit and social impact sectors where we’re often so focused on the mission that we shy away from addressing our own needs. As one nonprofit leader tells Forbes, one way to avoid this mistake is to know what’s negotiable. Whether we’re talking about salary, schedule, or anything else you need to reach your goals and avoid burnout, don’t assume that negotiating is off limits.

Burnout is a very real risk to professional like you, and it has more causes than you may think. If you feel stuck in your career or overwhelmed by barriers, you may be headed for burnout. The good news is that you can always turn this situation around—you just need the know-how and the courage to make it happen!

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Gloria Martinez loves sharing her business expertise and hopes to inspire other women to start their own businesses and seek promotions in the workplace. Her brainchild, Women Led, is an avenue for her vision to help women advance in the workplace and celebrate their achievements. 

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I’m Kristi Porter, and I help cause-focused organizations understand and execute effective marketing campaigns so they can move from stressed to strategic. Your resources may be limited, but your potential isn’t. Whether you’re a nonprofit, social enterprise, or small business who wants to give back, I’ll show you how to have a bigger impact.

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Three Simple Steps in the Quest to Find Your Ideal Intern

Last week, you heard from my intern, Megan, on four reasons why interns are motivated to help you. Are you convinced? I sure was! (And if you haven't check it out yet—yes, she does address the question of money!)

This week, you're getting the follow-up by my second intern, Michael. We've talked about the WHY, and now we'll hit you with the HOW. I'm not sure which of those two questions resonates with you when you're thinking about an intern, but hopefully, we'll provide you with the answers needed to take that next step.

I've only had Megan and Michael for about a month, and am already so thankful for them. So, do yourself a favor and go get an intern (or two). Not sure how? Just keep reading!

It’s the end of February and the New Year has already gifted us all with a handsomely exhaustive list of responsibilities…

Social media drafts are long overdue, email updates stack a mile high, and blog posts eagerly await an obligatory glimpse. Somewhere in the sewage of this chaos, you also discover that your most urgent and time-sensitive tasks are often the very ones which you’ve neglected.

But, SUDDENLY, you have an epiphany—you don’t have to do this all on your own! What if you had a helping hand? After all, for every Batman exists a Robin, for every Scooby a Shaggy, and for every Cher a respective Sonny.

What if . . . you had an intern?

You may not be able to offer your intern a salary, but you have compensation in the form of experience that they desperately desire. They can serve as more than a glorified coffee runner, and even play a crucial role in keeping your small business or nonprofit operating at optimum speed.

Finding an intern is actually less complicated than one might assume. There’s not one algorithm that will do the trick or one method superior to others, however, let’s explore three, overarching avenues that will aid your search.

Finding the right intern for your organization lies at the intersection of three avenues:

1. An understanding of the qualifications for your intern role

2. A correct and detailed intern position description

3. An idea of where to find the best interns for your nonprofit or social enterprise

1. Outline your requirements for potential interns.

Think of the search for an intern as paving a yellow brick road that will steer the right candidates to the doors of your organization. If that’s the case, you should to be clear from both an academic and professional perspective so that the right person rings the doorbell.

This begins with you carefully outlining prerequisites including educational achievements (high school, GRE, undergraduate and graduate), portfolio samples you may want to see, and prior work experience. One company might be looking for tenured university seniors with previous agency experience, while others are looking for malleable minds that are eager to learn. The choice is yours, however, you cannot expect more, and receive less, without setting expectations. In turn, you might also discover that you have hired an intern whose skills and talents far exceed the amount of work you have to offer them.

Just remember that it’s okay to be selective. An internship needs to be the right fit for both parties.

2. Create a clearly defined intern job description, including the benefits they’ll receive.

No one likes to be exclusive, however, in terms of finding the perfect intern, a certain degree of exclusivity needs to be shown. And just so that we don’t parallel the clique from Mean Girls, let’s put it this way—it’s not them, it’s you.

Be open to students with skills and attributes that may be uncommon for your line of work, however, don’t be deceptive in a job description. If they are looking for a for-profit sales role and you work strictly in nonprofit fundraising, they might not be the right fit. Again . . . that’s okay!

So how do you ensure that your role or program is a right fit for the applicant? Before you begin soliciting resumes, clearly define and outline job standards and provide candidates with an overview of the program in which they’ll be participating. And if your internship provides certifications, credits, or payment, be sure to list these in the job description, too.

Finally, be specific in the language you use to describe the internship. Good candidates don’t often migrate toward listings that use generic language. Because internships can last a series of months (even entire semesters), potential interns want to know exactly what it is that they’ll be doing.

You may even want to look at other intern postings online to help you decide what to include.

3. Use the Internet and your existing network to help you find an intern.

Most of the individuals searching for an internship experience are students and young alumni. Because it’s likely that these individuals haven’t had extensive amounts of career experience, it’s easier to mold their talents and help them hone in on those they haven’t yet developed. And that should be exciting for both you and them.

To find your young Padawan, it’s essential to utilize the correct platforms. For now, we’ll focus on three outlets to aid your search: career centers, online postings, and personal networking.

Career Centers

The vast majority of large universities and colleges are outfitted with programs and facilities that provide their students with professional working opportunities. Some universities might call it a “career center” or “services/development program.” The jargon’s all a little different, but globally, the mission is the same—to find work experience, internships, and jobs for students and recent graduates.

Cast your eyes on the example of New York University, which operates the Wasserman Center for Career Development. This career center provides extensive lists of internship opportunities, jobs, and sound advice in the sojourn of career discovery.

My advice to you is to shoot for the stars! Contact every university career center in your respective city or state, and use those centers to network your way to great candidates. They can provide you with potential career fair dates, ensuring that you can speak with students in person, or potentially provide listings or direct links for your internship on their website.

As you build relationships with students and career centers, you’ll develop a steady stream of candidates through pre-existing relationships. And when students provide positive feedback about you to their career centers, you’re more likely to receive continuous and high-quality candidates. The other benefit of going through career centers is, of course, that they’ll often do the regular work of searching for your intern so that you don’t have to!

Online Postings

Remember, the interweb is a friend not a foe. This is an essential element to the success of finding your intern in the haystack.

To get even more specific, when looking for interns in university-level programs, go to the places they would go. Posting ads on Craigslist won’t likely aid you in the process of searching for an intern if the population you’re searching for isn’t using Craigslist.

Students and recent grads alike utilize a multitude of websites, some of the most popular being LinkedIn, Internships.com, and Handshake. LinkedIn proves to be a necessary networking tool for the duration of careers, as you probably already know. To ensure that you are fully utilizing LinkedIn, make sure to join groups with similar missions to promote your business and discover talent. I found this article particularly useful.

Additionally, in searching for interns, I’d insist on using websites like Handshake and Internships.com, which directly target college students and young alumni. Handshake specifically has access to over 8 million students and young adults, and more than 475 career centers. And Internships.com is the world’s largest student-focused internship marketplace, bringing students, employers, and higher education institutions together in one centralized location. Convenient, eh?

And should you wish to cast your net wider, many standard job posting sites like Idealist and Work For Good also allow for internship listings.

Personal Networks

Last but certainly not least, don’t underestimate the potential of your personal network. The people you already know may help you find your best interns.

It’s easiest to start with your friends and family. Put out the word that you’re looking for an intern, and see if they can help you fill the spot quickly. Just remember to include that clearly-defined intern job description, even when talking to people casually.

Next, post about the internship on your personal and professional social media outlets and in groups. This is a great, and fast, way to spread the word about your opportunity.

And a final example is the connections you have with clients or peers in the same field. More than often, students and young alumni are looking for more than one consecutive internship. One summer they might work for a for-profit manufacturer that produces burlap supplies for a local, nonprofit coffee shop. But next summer, that same intern wants to work at the coffee shop itself. So, reach out to your partners and colleagues for contacts.

With a little preparation and planning, you’ll find your dynamic duo. The Robin to your Batman. The Sonny to your Cher.

By the way, did you miss the first post on why an intern might want to help you? You can read it right here!

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Michael Griffith Banks is a fourth-year Public Relations Major at the University of Georgia with a minor in Spanish. He’s throughly involved with UGA’s Office of Admissions, most recently serving as an Orientation Leader for the University.

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I'm Kristi Porter, and I started Signify to provide writing, consulting and strategy services to nonprofits and for-profit organizations with a social mission, primarily through copywriting, marketing, and business communications. I believe that cause-focused organizations like yours are the future of business. You're proof that companies can both make money and do good. And I'm here to help you get noticed and grow. When you succeed, we all win.

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3 Tips for Finding a Personal Mentor

Ever wish you could borrow from someone's experience? 

Would you like to bounce ideas off of someone with greater expertise?

Do you need feedback from a professional in your field?

Could you use some encouragement and support from someone who's "been there?"

These are the kind of perks you get by having a mentor. (Plus, so much more!)

It really doesn't matter what kind of role you fill at your organization. Anyone from the founder to the part-time assistant can benefit from a mentor, because if you care about what you do (and I know you do!), you want to do it better.

I've had the benefit of having four official mentors during my life. The first two were spiritual mentors. The third is still currently my all-around mentor. And the fourth is new. She serves as a business mentor since launching Signify was a completely new endeavor with a lot of unique, and exciting, challenges.

My guess is that one of these might be of interest to you as well. I know many of us are in Facebook Groups, signed up for online courses, and attend networking groups because we want to learn from successful people. And whether you want to entirely emulate them or just pick up a few pointers in a specific area, mentors are one of the best ways to make this happen. And guess what—the rules are up to the two of you!

I wanted to share this guest post with you because I've been deeply appreciative of having caring mentors over the years, and I've also been asked about how I found my mentors. I'd love for you to have the same opportunity, whether it comes along naturally, or you give it a little nudge.

Read My 3 Tips for Finding a Personal Mentor.

I also talk extensively about mentors here:

The Key to Your Success May Be Staring You In The Face—Literally (blog post)

How to Find a Mentor When You’re a Freelancer or Entrepreneur (interview by The Penny Hoarder)

Let me know how it goes!

PS: I use the term "personal" mentor just to define a one-on-one relationship, not the type of mentoring. It's up to you to decide!

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I'm Kristi Porter, and I started Signify to provide writing, consulting and strategy services to nonprofits and for-profit organizations with a social mission, primarily through copywriting, marketing and business communications. I believe that cause-focused organizations like yours are the future of business. You're proof that companies can both make money and do good. And I'm here to help you get noticed and grow. When you succeed, we all win.

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