A Mission-Driven Recruiting Career in the Non-Profit Sector

August 5, 2024 – What led you to a career in executive search for non-profits?

I began my professional life at the Shedd Aquarium, one of Chicago’s most beloved cultural institutions, with a dream job. Together with my team, I was responsible for the care, well-being, enrichment, and training of the Shedd’s marine mammals and penguins. As part of this role, I hired, mentored, and coached new staff and participants in the Shedd’s internship program. It was this experience, along with all I learned from the systems and actions at the core of communicating across language (and species!) barriers that ultimately led to a career in executive search. When Campbell & Company was first establishing its executive search practice, a Shedd colleague of mine shared that an opportunity was opening up for someone like me with deep interest in the care and feeding of mammals – particularly the human ones on land. Now, after more than 20 years at the firm, I am the managing director of the service line I joined in its early days. I always learn something in each search about the work being done across the non-profit sector, and what a particular organization needs in order to drive their mission forward. It wouldn’t be possible to have a career working closely with so many important organizations and inspiring people any other way.

Has hiring activity slowed or increased during the past year for non-profit clients?

Hiring activity has both slowed in pace and increased in volume for the non-profit organizations that Campbell & Company serves, including those in arts and culture, conservation, healthcare, human services, higher education, associations and more. The process has slowed, with each search taking longer than their pre-pandemic analogues, but the volume of searches has increased from a year ago. The “Great Resignation” provided a huge shakeup for the contemporary workforce: salaries increased, expectations of jobseekers and organizations changed and then had to mutually recalibrate, and many members of the Baby Boom generation put their retirement plans on pause. Now, more Baby Boomers are leaving their roles, more organizations are articulating the desire for on-site or hybrid (rather than fully remote) workers, and those workers are less eager than they were in recent years to change roles or geography unless the opportunity is just right.

Have you seen more executives looking for careers in the non-profit sector?

What has remained fairly constant is the movement of leaders between the corporate and non-profit sectors. Campbell & Company has consistently worked with leaders who have had a great career in the private sector and want to move into non-profit work and those who have excelled in non-profit leadership who are eager to join the private sector, primarily as consultants. Throughout the history of Campbell’s search practice, the team has encouraged clients to think outside the proverbial box when it comes to what constitutes “applicable experience.” This flexibility has enabled us to place unconventional hires whose skills may not be an intuitive match, but which ultimately bring the fresh perspective required for growth and innovation.

Is the non-profit sector attracting more leaders who are late-stage in their careers or has there been interest to bring younger leaders on board?

It’s exciting to see that more organizations are purposefully embracing a multi-generational workforce. As the co-chair of Campbell & Company’s diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility council as well as in my leadership role within the search practice, creating opportunities for staff of different generations to engage and learn from one another has become an intentional focus. As someone “in the middle” generationally, I find it rewarding – and fun – to help create these environments in and beyond the firm. Multi-generational intentionality can also contribute to succession planning, ensuring a measure of continuity and the retention of institutional knowledge no matter how the workforce continues to shift.

What challenges do non-profits face in 2024?

Contemplating future challenges facing our partners in non-profits, it is important to note the role that philanthropy plays in ensuring that these essential organizations can continue to thrive. Trust-based practices that allow non-profits to effectively attain and steward resources without getting bogged down in unwieldy or unnecessary application or reporting requirements is key to creating the agile, responsive, and sustainable non-profits that an uncertain future will need.