Navigating Unemployment: Financial, Emotional, and Professional Strategies
2. Job-seeking and Networking in Crisis - Rebuilding your Career
The current job landscape within the development and social impact sector is facing one of its biggest challenges and crises. Many talented and experienced professionals seek new paths forward, to either resist within their field or slightly pivot towards more fruitful opportunities. If you’re navigating this uncertainty, know that you are not alone, and that this can also be a time to reimagine and reinvent your career in new and meaningful ways. Your expertise, skills and commitment to social and environmental justice are still needed in these challenging times, even if the circumstances are changing.
On average, for those actively looking for a job it takes somewhere between 3 and 6 months (FlexJobs, TopResume, JT O'Donnell). Although the job hunt itself can already be as intense as a full-time job, we suggest some in-between activities that might alleviate you, both financially and mentally. These options include remote and/or part-time flexible jobs, online tutoring (of aunty skill or language you have), copy-editing, and (online) volunteering within the sector. If you have the capacity to use your time without getting paid, staying involved is a meaningful way of getting back a sense of agency, connection and purpose.
This section gathers practical resources to support you in your next career development steps, including job listings for professional opportunities, LinkedIn pages to follow, and useful advice on CV, interview preparation and strategies for standing out in a crowded job market. Feel free to skim through these tools and look at those resources that make sense at your current career stage and job search situation.
Please send us (ourstopgap@gmail.com) any other career resource you know of so we can share it here.
Top Voices to follow within the international development and social impact career search:
Haiqi Wan regularly compiles comprehensive lists of UN opportunities, international development organizations, CV and interview tips
Jasmine Anouna: Co-Founder at The Bloom, building a community for social impact careers
Juliette Sanchez Lambert shares jobs on human rights, gender equality and LGTBI rights that are based in Europe or remote
Eleni Zervos Founder of Ethos Atlas, publishes weekly climate and social impact jobs curations
Mwende Ngila shares career advancements, funding opportunities and (remote) roles related to sustainable development
Berta Santos: Founder and Director of Social Impact Newbie, helping students and graduates break into the social impact sector
Craig Zelizer: regularly posts about sustainable impact organizations and relevant people to follow
Alexander Borum for monthly entry-level job lists within international relations and diplomacy, sorted by subfield and location
Paula Reisdorf weekly post corporate accountability jobs at NGOs, unions, investigative journalism outlets & cooperatives fighting corporate power
Judit Toth for tips on applying to and growing within United Nations careers
Lukas Svana for international relations opportunities for youth
Social and Climate Impact Platforms including (mainly free) job postings, workshops, events and other professional development resources:
Idealist.org shares job search tools, career advice, grad resources, volunteer and internship opportunities, and ideas for action.
Impact Hub Network encapsulates over 120 impact hubs with the mission to build a regenerative economy where business and profit serve people and the planet.
Impactpool connects mission-driven organizations with specialized talent sector-specific matching, diversity-driven sourcing, and tools for employer branding and talent engagement.
The Bloom is a learning community and newsletter that shares job opportunities, inspiring resources & grants, and stories of diverse businesses.
Ethos Atlas releases a newsletter with opportunities on climate change, social impact and activism.
Remote Rebellion offers professional training and coaching for remote job searching within the social impact sector.
IR Career Starters presents curated entry-level jobs, traineeships, fellowships and internships in international relations
Social Impact Newbie is a community-led platform supporting students and graduates start their careers in Social Impact.
Josh's Water Jobs regularly publishes worldwide water career opportunities filtering by subsector, location and level.
Tech to the Rescue offers fundraising & pro bono tech matchmaking between companies and nonprofits for positive change.
Devex connects and informs over 1.3 million development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, funding and career opportunities.
Work for Good is a platform for nonprofit careers, particularly in fundraising, marketing, and administration.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy is a job board for fundraising, development, and leadership roles.
LinkedIn Pages we recommend to stay updated and not miss any opportunity:
UN Jobs and NGO Jobs, Careers at UN and NGOs, Global Jobs Atlas from entry-level to Senior positions
Opportunities for Youth, Youth Opportunities and Intern Hive for and Junior opportunities, internships, study possibilities, scholarships and training for youth
Global South Opportunities empower the globally marginalized and underrepresented with life-transforming opportunities
Green Jobs Network for environment, climate and ESG career opportunities
Genderjobs.org to find opportunities to work on gender equality & LGBTQI+ rights
Career Growth Gurus:
Erin McGoff Founder of AdvicewithErin, for her candid and uplifting career advice on job interviews and CVs, and the newsletter with useful tips
Emily Worden Coach at Next Act Career, for advice for mid-career professionals on CV, Linkedin, personal branding and salary negotiation
Adam Broda Founder and Career Coach at Broda Coaching, for tips on ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems).
Shortcuts to outstanding CVs, Cover Letters, Interviews and LinkedIn profiles:
Harvard's Guide to CVs and Cover Letters is a 20-page compilation of sample resumes with strong action verbs
How to CV, How to Cover Letter, How to Tests & Interviews, and How to Linkedin Articles by Alexander Borum are comprehensive, detailed and practical lists of tips
Interview Questions and Answers by Neha Malhotra from weaknesses, failures, and expectation management to challenges and conflict
Prepare for UN Competency-based Interviews by Maria Montalvoo
4 Ways to increase chances to be shortlisted for a UN Job Article by Judit Toth
Networking and Email Writing Tips by Haiqi Wan include professional communication examples about negotiations, meetings, invitations, requests, reporting and many more day-to-day email exchange
Some useful tips and more resources:
Set job search hours/days, don’t let it consume your whole day and week.
Have an overview to keep track and alleviate your mind, not to doom-scroll it.
Every updated CV, written Cover Letter and networking chat count - still, quality over quantity.
Even if you’ve been working in the field for a while, consider looking into ways of further improving and developing your CV and LinkedIn Profile - there is almost always space for growth.
Reach out to people and expand your network, most folks love talking about their work and will share insights with you!
Keep learning, through (free online) courses, workshops, books, videos and podcasts.
Consider writing open applications to organizations and projects, even if they are (publicly) not hiring at the moment, it’s can often help to be proactive.
Don’t wait for opportunities, create them and make yourself visible through topics, organizations and skills that interest you.
Diversify your search through Linkedin (not also ‘Jobs’ but also ‘Posts’ section!) and the above-listed platforms.
Let everyone know you are looking for a new position! How to announce you're #OpentoWork on LinkedIn by Emily Worden.
“While your feelings are natural and quite common, I can assure you that this is not the case. People are generally quite happy to help, especially if you make it easy for them with the Open to Work Info Sheet. You will be rewarded for your vulnerability and candor, I promise”.
Check out this comprehensive list of International Humanitarian Organizations by Haiqi Wan
Guides on Job seeking through Google Alerts and Brian's Job Search (Applicant Tracking Systems job openings) by Emily Worden
Resource to understand your own Soft Skills by Valentine Dupoouey