Nonprofit Hiring Partnerships: Three Case Studies

Nonprofit leaders are busy people, often juggling too many priorities. Between trying to move their organization forward, supporting their team, and making sure the organization has the resources it needs to meet its mission, it can be difficult to make time to do all the things on a never-ending to-do list.

Over the last few years, we’ve been working behind the scenes to develop a solution much-needed for nonprofits - Hiring Partnerships - focused on giving nonprofit leaders back their most important resource - their time. Below are three Hiring Partnership case studies.

---

Case Study 1
The “Never Enough Time” Dilemma

A small Midwest nonprofit (10 employees) found themselves in a recurring cycle of hiring delays and missed opportunities for a Property Manager position they desperately needed to fill. For three months the Executive Director found herself struggling to allocate time to review candidate resumes. With her constant juggling of priorities and in the middle of grant season, she found herself in a constant cycle of resumes sitting in Indeed, and by the time she reviewed them (often three or four weeks after applications came in), the top candidates had already withdrawn their applications or didn’t respond to her request for an interview – either they had accepted other positions or just lost interest.

Recognizing the urgency of the situation for her organization and the need for a better hiring solution, the Executive Director reached out, asking for our help.

Within three weeks of engaging Talbott Talent, the organization had an accepted job offer from their dream Property Manager. Not only did this candidate have the experience and technical skills needed for the role, but she was mission-aligned and had the vision and skills to move the organization forward.

SOLUTION: Tighten up applicant reviewing and interviewing timeline.

Talbott Talent learned about the position and drafted a dynamic job ad that received over 60 applications in one week. As part of the Hiring Partnership, our nonprofit recruiters reviewed resumes, conducted initial interviews, held follow-up calls with top candidates, and scheduled the top three candidates for in-person interviews with the Executive Director.

By significantly understaffed, we are referring to 20% or more of the organization’s positions are vacant.

---

Case Study 2
The “High Turnover, Hard to Manage” Predicament

Although this large, grant-funded nonprofit had internal HR expertise, they had one department within their organization that continually had people problems - difficulty hiring, employees requiring excessive management time, and temp agency expenses putting a strain on the budget. This department included a large team (over 20) of seasonal, entry-level employees and, over the years, the organization had become dependent on high-cost temp agencies to fill these positions. Even with the use of temp agencies, the temporary employees had high turnover rates, low attendance, and disciplinary issues that were almost double what the organization had, as a whole.

This nonprofit organization knew they needed a change in hiring for these positions, but they didn’t know what it was so year after year they paid the price – financially and otherwise.

When they came to Talbott Talent for help, we immediately redefined their recruitment strategy for these positions – and others – through collaborative discussions and strategic job post refinements.

Within 8 weeks of their initial conversation the organization had 20 highly competent, professional temp workers who had the skills and competencies needed. The hiring managers were thrilled! One hiring manager even said…

“The candidates are 100% better than previous years using this partnership and process! You’ve transformed our department!” 

The director was so thrilled with the results of this Hiring Partnership project, as we opened up a lot of space in her budget by removing dependence on temp agencies, helped the hiring managers hire the right people for the role, and made her hiring managers love their jobs even more because turnover and attendance (which used to be their biggest headaches) were no longer issues for their team members.

HERE’S WHAT WE DID…

SOLUTION 1: Change job postings to reflect actual needs.

Talbott Talent’s Hiring Partnership team met with the director and hiring managers as part of a position discovery call. Immediately, we realized one thing: the job posting the organization was using to attract clients did not reflect the skills and competencies needed for the seasonal positions. We created a new job ad to truly reflect what the hiring managers were saying they needed.

SOLUTION 2: Adjust compensation and remove temp agencies from the equation.

By evaluating the cost of temp agencies against the compensation these employees were actually taking home, we were able to help the organization set a competitive hourly rate for these positions that was still much less than they were spending on temp agencies - so it actually saved them money!.

SOLUTION 3: Create a recruitment funnel.

In the past, the organization had gone straight from job posting to one quick in-person interview and then maybe an offer. We developed a new process for their hiring, including interviewing on a continual basis, creating multiple quick virtual and in-person interview and screening stages, moving candidates from application to job offer within two weeks.

Talbott Talent was able to ensure all candidates the hiring managers met with had the skills and professionalism to excel in the position, and that they were going to accept the position when offered. The hiring managers had interviews scheduled for them with ONLY highly qualified candidates.

---

Case Study 3
The “Who Do We Even Need” Quandary

A statewide association was hiring for a new role, and knew they needed guidance, not only in selecting the right candidate, but in first understanding exactly who they should be looking for based on the needs of the organization. 

We created a dynamic job ad that attracted over 100 applicants for the role in less than one week. After carefully screening and conducting initial virtual interviews, we scheduled the top three candidates for in-person interviews with the association’s president. 

Three weeks after engaging Talbott Talent, the new employee started, and the association president told us, “I spent less than 4 hours total and got to hire my dream employee for the new role.”

SOLUTION 1: Remove unnecessary job requirements.

Through the position discovery call of our Hiring Partnership, we helped the association president identify the skills and competencies needed for this new role and coached him let go of the unnecessary requirements that would limit the candidate pool.

SOLUTION 2: Seek an independent viewpoint.

The top three candidates we presented were extremely qualified for the role – they were so good, in fact, that the president had a hard time deciding between two of them. Talbott Talent’s Hiring Solutions Manager worked with the association president to advise him in selecting the best candidate for the role and making a competitive, accepted offer.

---

At Talbott Talent, we're dedicated to empowering nonprofits to thrive. Our Hiring Partnerships are designed to take the stress out of recruitment so you can focus on what you do best – changing the world.

Learn best practices in nonprofit recruiting. On the blog…