Why do you want to be in this role at our organization?
Why do you want to do the work that this position will do?
Why our organization or institution?
Primary responses to standard interview questions like these might, “I’d like to move up in my career,” or, “I find this type of work interesting,” or, “this position represents a raise for me,” or, “this organization has a great benefits structure,” or, “I’m seeking more flexibility in my work-life balance.” These are all legitimate responses.
However, a primary response might also be, “I want to work in this particular role at your particular organization because I care deeply about your organization’s mission.”
Hiring decisions throughout the nonprofit sector have been heavily influenced over the last 20 years by a for-profit, corporate, “skills, experience, and education first” model. This leads to people being hired who bring their heads and talent to work, but rarely, their whole hearts.
If you are building a team that dramatically advances your mission and gets fantastic, commendatory fundraising and external relations results, hire for mission devotion.
Full stop.
A person can decide to increase their professional skills, or get more education, or gain more technical expertise.
But, there is a sense of calling that motivates people to devote themselves to your mission. And people are called, they can’t decide to be called.
It takes a calling to devote oneself to a mission. And it takes devotion to contagiously spread the goodness of that mission to others so that advancement results soar.
