Bridgestar - An Initiative of the Bridgespan Group

• Transition to the Nonprofit Sector
• Serve as a Board Member
• Work in Key Positions
• Recruit Nonprofit Leaders

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Hiring Toolkit: Navigating the Hiring Process

Developing and implementing a thoughtful hiring strategy, and having the right tools at your disposal to make the process run smoothly, will help you create the right match between your organization’s needs and the people potentially interested in the position. Based on Bridgespan's executive search team’s collective years of experience in the recruiting field (both for-profit and nonprofit), we have compiled this eight step Hiring Toolkit to help you navigate this process.

You may review each article below or you may download the entire
Hiring Toolkit

1. Building a Recruiting Team
The first step in the recruiting process is to identify a team of individuals in your organization to be part of the hiring process.

2. Writing the Job Description
Writing great job descriptions is critical to finding great candidates. This piece offers both tips on doing so and several nonprofit job description samples, an organization overview sample, and an email announcement sample to assist you in developing and disseminating a great job description.

3. Processing Applications and Screening Resumes
Creating a system for reviewing applications and resumes will help you improve your chances of including the most relevant candidates in your interview pool, including uncovering some hidden gems. This piece discusses key steps and shares an assessment tool Bridgespan executive search consultants use when evaluating candidate resumes.

4. Conducting Successful Interviews
The interview is the first opportunity for an organization and a candidate to get to know one another, so it is important to prepare well. This piece provides both tips on conducting successful interviews and a set of sample interview questions you can use in your next search.

5. Reference Check: More than a Formality
Conducting reference checks will help you ensure that the candidate you ultimately choose will be well-positioned to succeed within the organization. This piece provides guidance on the process and a set of useful reference checking questions for you to use in your next search.

6. Extending an Offer
Reaching the point of extending an offer to your first-choice candidate is exciting. This piece provides some guidance on extending offers as well as a template for writing the offer letter.

7. Managing a New Employee's Transition
The important work of making a successful hire is not complete when the candidate accepts the offer. Rather, the process continues through the new hire’s first 30 to 90 days as he or she manages the transition into the new role.

Of Interest

Nonprofit Job Description Samples
This page offers several sample job descriptions for senior management roles, including both generic job description templates and specific examples of well-written job descriptions shared with permission of the organizations.

Saying "No"
The best part about the hiring process is extending an offer to a terrific candidate and taking him or her out to a celebratory lunch when the offer is accepted. But what about contacting the candidates that you did not choose? And on the candidate’s side, while saying yes is easy and fun, turning down an offer, especially after a fairly in-depth interviewing process, can be both difficult and awkward. Bridgespan's executive search team gives advice and tips for navigating this often difficult part of the hiring and job seeking process.

How do you hire staff from outside your area of expertise?
A discussion in one of Bridgestar's LinkedIn Groups asks how an executive director can best hire staff outside his area of expertise. Great answers from the community follow.

A New Seat at the Table: When Is It Time to Add to Your Senior Management Team? 
Most organizations reach a point in their growth when adding to their senior management team makes sense. But convincing stakeholders to spend significant money and perhaps to insert a new layer of management can be a challenge.