"Write the posting like you're trying to lose the wrong applicants"
That's advice we heard a long time ago from a recruiter at a top nonprofit. It still sticks with us today.
As you craft your job posting for your social impact role, keep that advice in mind. What exactly does it mean? Let's break it down in 4 actionable steps:
1.) Put the salary range in the post
Not "competitive" — an actual number. Hiding it doesn't get you better candidates, it gets you candidates who'll be unhappy three sentences into the offer call. In fact, this is exactly why all job posts on The Impact Job are required to include a salary.
2.) List what the role actually touches day to day
...including the unglamorous parts — the data entry, the board meeting prep, the donor thank-you calls. If it's in the post upfront, no one gets surprised by it in month two.
3.) Say what "small team" means in practice
"Wears many hats" has been drained of meaning by about a decade of job posts using it. Say the actual thing: "you'll manage the database and run point on the spring gala."
4.) Skip the corporate-recruiting language
"Fast-paced environment," "self-starter," "other duties as assigned" — nonprofit candidates have read these phrases a hundred times and they signal nothing. Specifics do the filtering that buzzwords can't.
That's it. Nothing revolutionary, but an important framework that we always try to share and come back to when employers ask for advice before they post a job with us.
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