These days, there is a significant trend related to professionals moving from the corporate sector to non-profit sector. The most popular figure who has done this is Bill Gates himself. But have you ever wondered as to what it really takes to make such a shift in careers? Just in terms of skills and attitudes that one needs to possess for a career in non-profits, what is required? You may be prepared to take the pay cut and may possess utmost passion for helping the underprivileged but that may not be enough.
The biggest difference I have found is regarding how decisions are made. I have found that in the non-profit sector the process of making the decision is as important as the decision itself. This was totally contradictory to what I had experienced in the corporate world. There, the speed of execution was extremely important. I remember that when I was supervising a bunch of engineers, I used most meetings to lay out my “pre-prepared” plan for the project and assign responsibilities. Of course, minor adjustments based on suggestions were made but that was it. This quick process of decision making was based on a simple formula. The end goal was to maximize profits. Being efficient was very important to maximize profits. And to be efficient, decisions had to made smartly and very quickly.
But this formula fares very badly in the non-profit sector. Of course the end goal is not to make money but the serve the needs of the constituents. But what this also means is that the goals cannot be easily quantified. This means they are abstract. This leads to different viewpoints about the goals themselves. This means that decisions cannot be made without a clear cut process of building consensus among the stakeholders. In my own experience, sometimes it has taken several months to decide something that would have been considered a quick decision, in the corporate sector. As you can see, working in a non-profit takes tremendous patience.
The second big difference I have seen between the two sectors is obvious. It is the lack of resources in the non-profit sector. Employees typically have to be extra flexible and take on work in many different areas even if it doesn’t belong to their area of expertise. You should have the “go get it done whatever come may” kind of attitude.
In conclusions, all this is not to say that working in a non-profit is not fulfilling. For me, just the simple idea that my work is helping build a better life for the underprivileged, rather than increasing the net worth of some individuals who are rich anyway, has been very powerful in itself. But if you are considering moving to a non-profit from the corporate sector, be sure to test yourself about your patience and flexibility levels to situations.
