Are you or someone you know leading the life of Peter Gibbons, toiling away in an unfulfilling job, longing for something better?

If so, don’t fill out another TPS report! Instead, start plotting your career change into the liberty movement immediately if not sooner.

But remember that making the transition (whether from the private sector, government, academia, politics, or the broader nonprofit space) won’t necessarily be easy. It may take some time and a few attempts, but hopefully it will be worth the effort.

Here are five things to consider as you plot your path to fulfillment.

1. You may have to take a pay cut.
   Thought I would just rip off the bandaid and start with that one. Depending on your current role/sector, it’s quite possible you’ll need to take a pay cut if you want to transition into the liberty movement. For instance, if you’re currently earning $350k as a lobbyist, I can promise you the contents of my piggy bank that you’ll need to adjust your salary expectations if you want to make this move.Check the organization’s 990s to get a sense of pay. But remember: if you’re aiming to replace someone who has been with the organization for a good period of time, do NOT expect to come in making the same salary the person had when they left. And as with any transition, you may have to take a step back in order to take a few steps forward.Finally, if money is your primary motivating factor when it comes to work, I would suggest you consider other career paths. Now, to be clear, you can make a very nice living in the nonprofit space, but in our world, it’s more about fulfillment than it is about money.
2. Help employers see that you love liberty.
   This is probably the most important thing you can do. All of us in the free-market world are here because we want to be, and we want to hire people who are equally passionate about advancing liberty. You can help employers understand that you’re passionate in several ways, the easiest of which is to express it clearly in your cover letter. A more compelling way to demonstrate this passion is through action, which could include being an active member of a liberty oriented organization (America’s Future Foundation, Bastiat Society, Young Americans for Liberty, etc.), attending a liberty-oriented event/seminar/conference, or volunteering for a free-market nonprofit.
   
3. Help employers understand why your skill set would be valuable.
   It won’t always be manifest to the employer how your skill set will lend itself to the job at hand. So, help them understand! That means reading the job description carefully and then clearly describing how your past work aligns. It also means cutting the jargon, abbreviations, and junk phrases that often litter resumes and make no sense to people in other sectors. If your resume sounds like the Peanuts teacher (Wah wah wah wah wah wah), you’re in trouble.
   
4. Some transitions will be easier than others.
   The easiest transitions are usually in communications, media, marketing, finance, and administrative roles. That’s because skills for these roles are often viewed as universally applicable. Transitioning from a fundraising role is a little trickier. While many of the skills transfer, employers worry that candidates may not adapt to the very different approach we have here. For instance, fundraising for a political candidate or a university is viewed as a different beast than fundraising for a think tank. Likewise, transitioning from a legal role is also complicated. Here clients are usually looking for subject matter expertise. Senior management is one of the most difficult transitions. A successful private sector CEO may well have the capacity to effectively run a free-market think tank, but if the candidate doesn’t have experience in policy and fundraising, the board may focus on candidates who do.
   
5. Act like you’ve been there before.
   Even if you’ve never spent time in the free-market nonprofit world, do enough homework so that it’s not patently obvious you’re a newb. For instance, don’t say you’re excited to work for “your company.” Call it an organization or nonprofit, or better yet, use the actual name of the entity! Also, don’t ask about “signing bonuses.” As a capitalist pig, I’d love it if signing bonuses were commonplace in our world, but they aren’t. 

Here’s the great news: 72% of Talent Market’s placement come from outside of the free-market movement. That means the majority of the people we place are making a transition from another sector to our world! Clearly,  it can be done! 

So, make sure your information with Talent Market is up to date and keep on pursuing your dream! We look forward to working with you! 

You know how I like to compare dating and hiring, right?

Well, let me share a story. Many moons ago I was dating a great guy. Smart, funny, handsome, gainfully employed, liberty-minded…the whole nine yards. But after a long spell of dating, he was clearly afraid of commitment. So, I dumped him.

If this gentleman were an employer, you could say that his interview process went on too long and he lost a good candidate. This, of course, is a great lesson for nonprofits in hiring mode: efficiency matters.

With that in mind, here are five tips for having an efficient interview process.

1. Don’t start the hiring process until you’re ready to hire.
   Case in point: not too long ago we worked on a search during which the applicant pool shaped up very nicely after just a few weeks. The candidates were excited about the opportunity and we were thrilled that our client had so many good options. That’s when our client dropped the bomb: they decided they wanted to hold off on making a hire for another couple of months. Not surprisingly, the candidates’ interest level quickly waned and we lost several of them during that period.
   Waiting until you’re ready to hire will save your organization time and energy and keep applicants happy.
   
2. Everyone and his grandmother does not need to be involved in the process.
   We’re big believers in involving multiple staff members in the interview process, as it provides a more robust evaluation of applicants and creates team buy-in. But involving more than one staff member doesn’t necessarily mean involving every single one.We had a candidate tell us recently that she thought the client was joking when they asked her to come in again for an 8th interview (she had already met with more than a dozen staff members in the first seven interviews). Alas, if candidates think you’re joking about your interview process, it’s probably time to get serious about paring it down!
3. Make hiring a priority
   Let’s face it: you’re busy. This week you’re launching a major direct mail campaign. Next is your annual dinner. The week after is vacation. And the week after that you have six donor meetings in three cities. Oh, and you’re in the middle of making a critical hire.It’s tempting to push aside hiring when things get hairy, but don’t forget why you’re hiring in the first place: you need more hands on deck! When hiring is not a priority for you, candidates can sense it. Just like dating, the person you are courting wants to feel important.  Don’t give them a reason to think otherwise!
4. Don’t let uncertainty stall the process
   A client once confessed to us that the reason the interview process had stalled on their end was that they were uncertain about one of the candidates. If you’re unsure about a candidate, the best way to find clarity is to acquire more information. And the best way to acquire more information is to move the process forward, whether that means interviewing the candidate again, asking the candidate for more information, giving the candidate a writing assignment, checking references, etc. Stalling won’t help you find clarity, but more information will!
   
5. Eliminate roadblocks
   Last year we worked on a search that was moving along swimmingly. All of a sudden, it came to a grinding halt for a number of weeks. Candidates began to ask questions and contemplate other jobs. It turns out that one of the individuals involved in the hiring process couldn’t find time to interview candidates, so the process simply stopped when it became his turn to evaluate the talent pool. Thankfully, the hiring manager identified the problem and removed the person from the process. Like clockwork, things began moving forward again and in short order a hire was made. Roadblocks such as this can cost you a good candidate if not several. Make sure everyone involved understands the need for efficiency, and if they don’t, make the process work without them.

Whether you’re in hiring or dating mode, following these tips will put you in the best position to acquire the best talent. And as for the guy I broke-up with, he dramatically improved his interview process by returning with a ring. Lesson learned.

As I look back on my early career, I can’t believe I’m not stuck working at a place like Chotchkie’s. Why? Well, I made a lot of boneheaded decisions and missed out on some great opportunities. And mostly because I just didn’t know any better.

Such is the case for many recent graduates. After all, the transition from college to career is a bumpy one at best. It’s riddled with opportunities to make mistakes. The good news, though, is that most of these blunders can be avoided easily. 

With that in mind, here are 7 pitfalls young professionals should steer clear of as they launch their careers. 

1. Being unwilling to leave your comfort zone
   After college, it’s tempting to head back to your hometown and start a new life — and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But if you’re itching to launch a career that advances liberty, that might be hard to do if your hometown is like mine was (one stoplight, population 987).Arguably, you’ll never be more “free” to experience what the world has to offer than immediately after your undergraduate studies. Now is the time to take a chance, to move somewhere new and exciting, and to expand your horizons. Remember, you can always go back home. And when you do, you’ll go back knowing you weren’t afraid to leave your comfort zone. 
2. Pigeonholing yourself
   Early in your career, it’s easy to follow a shiny object down a career path that doesn’t make sense for your skills. Case in point: would you believe all three Talent Marketeers (Lauren, Katy, and yours truly) originally thought we wanted to go into policy analysis when we launched our liberty careers? Looking back, it seems obvious that policy isn’t the best fit for our skills. And yet, policy is the area that so many recent graduates have in mind when they commence their careers.Of course, there are countless other options in the liberty space: development, communications, media, project management, law, coalitions, finance, operations, advocacy, etc. Before you commit to a path, make sure you think through your skills and interests and the requirements for different roles. Still not sure? Reach out to Katy (our resident early career expert) for advice! 
3. Not having a long-sighted view of “grunt work”
   Have you ever met a young professional who says, “Grunt work? I LOVE grunt work. Pile it on! I can’t get enough!” Yeah, me either.
   But the reality is that grunt work (data entry, event logistics, scrubbing data, etc.) is often part of early-career jobs.Is it sexy? No. But it is often very important work. Don’t believe me? Put the decimal point for that $100,000.00 gift in the wrong place in the database and watch the spark fly!Ultimately, this grunt work will give you a firm understanding of what it takes to have reliable data in your database, an event that runs like a well-oiled machine, etc. Most importantly, this foundation of knowledge sets the stage for managing and building things later in your career.

   And the more quickly you master the grunt work, the more quickly you’ll be asked to move on to more challenging tasks!

    

4. Thinking you know everything
   I thought my first boss was clueless. I couldn’t understand why he made the decisions he did, and my inner voice was fond of asking: “How is this dude still in business?”But the reality is I was the clueless one. I didn’t know the first thing about the business he was running. I just parachuted in from college life; so, my expertise didn’t extend beyond keg stands and beer pong. Instead of questioning his every move, I should have been soaking up his expertise.The danger of thinking you know everything is immense: if you believe you have all the answers, you won’t be open to learning from those around you. And if you don’t learn from others, your career trajectory will nosedive faster than you can say “beer pong is not a marketable skill.”

    

5. Job jumping without good reason
   Early in your career, it’s tempting to change jobs in exchange for a little bump in salary, flexibility in hours, or more vacation. And it can be tempting to do it again. And again. And maybe even again.If you’re not careful, your resume could end up being a train wreck of short tenures: 6 months here, 18 months there, a year here, 9 months there.And before you know it, your resume might actually prevent you from getting a job.  I cannot tell you how many hiring managers have told me they won’t even interview a candidate because the person has made too many job moves. Not only does a resume like this show a lack of commitment, it also demonstrates a lack of depth (because you can’t become an expert in 6 months unless your job is making subs at Jersey Mike’s).

    

6. Asking for a raise too early
   As you likely know, one of the biggest gripes senior managers have about about Millennials is that they are entitled. Unfortunately, it’s hard to dissuade managers of this notion when an average-performing entry level staff member asks for a raise three months into the job. Now, I’m a capitalist pig and want you to maximize your income, but let’s be smart about it.Before asking for a raise, make sure these things are true:
   -You have been with the organization for a respectable period of time (say, a year; if there are extraordinary circumstances involved, you may shorten the time frame)
   -You have been exceeding (not just meeting) expectations
   -Market research tells you that you should be earning moreFinally, remember that your personal desires (to buy a new Beemer or take weekend concert trips to Red Rocks) should NOT factor into the equation. Your salary should be based on the value you bring to your organization. Period.

    

7. Forgetting the importance of reputation
   From the moment you begin your first job, you have started building your reputation. Every deadline you meet, report you nail, and project you execute flawlessly will help shape a positive reputation. Conversely, every meeting you miss, project you slack off on, and work event in which you over-serve yourself will tarnish your reputation.  Eventually your reputation will be far more important than your resume, so make sure to create a positive one!

We hope this list is helpful. Remember: if you avoid these 7 pitfalls, you’ll never have to wear 37 pieces of flair.