7 Reasons to Work for a Non-Profit Organization After College

In a for-profit organization, it is almost impossible to get access to the top bosses, let alone get to interact with them. In most non-profit organizations, you can get easy access to the higher managers and also get to interact with them. This will help you to gain valuable experience and connections.

There are a lot of misconceptions regarding the non-profit sector. Many people confuse the “non-profit” term as meaning “no money”. That’s not true at all. According to research from Urban Institute, the non-profit sector contributed an estimated $905.9 billion to the US economy in 2013.  

It has also been seen that the starting salary, when comparing a for-profit organization with a non-profit one, is the same on average. So, there are ample opportunities for fresh graduates, and it can be just as profitable as working in the for-profit sector when you do not have any experience.

Many for-profit organizations think twice before hiring fresh graduates. Some of the biggest names in the for-profit sector tend to hire only those with the best skills, paying less attention to someone’s passion for the industry. But it is the opposite in the non-profit sector. NGOs are often willing to hire fresh graduates as long as they are passionate about the organization’s mission and show the dedication to perform well.

In non-profit organizations, you might get the chance to be in a position with a fancy title like Communication Leader or Assistant Director of Development. To move up the ladder, you need to be convincing and show certain leadership traits, which you have probably acquired if you’ve gained experience in student politics or leading a student society. This is often impossible in for-profit organizations because they have a more rigidly fixed hierarchy.

When you work for a non-profit organization, you get to meet diverse people from various backgrounds and experience different situations. You are not in a fixed environment, where the things happen the same way every day. So you can get to learn new things while you are working on different projects. In the end, you will find that you have learnt a lot more than what you expected.

If the above reasons are not enough, then there is always the attractiveness of travelling to new places (if you work for an international NGO), along with the ability to create your own career path. Life is too short to get stuck in a hamster wheel! Working for a non-profit organization will make you feel positive about your work and how it has contributed to society, instead of just being another cog in the wheel.

Hasib is a professional writer working with one of prominent job portals in India – naukri.com. As a career coach, he helps professionals in making decisions related to career and job opportunities. He is an avid reader and lives for two things – football and food. If he is not involved in any of those, you can find him contemplating existential issues. Follow him @ twitter, Google+, LinkedIn