How to Apply for a Job at a Charity

We don’t need your blood type

By Jason Baker, Director for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia

Applying for a job at a non-governmental organisation is really no different from applying at a for-profit corporation. Ten years ago, I set up PETA’s India affiliate in Mumbai, and I now serve as director of PETA Asia. Over the years, I have always been amused by the strange things that applicants think they should tell me. As your prospective boss, I only need to know why you are a good fit for the job; I don’t need your autobiography. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that applying to a charity is any different from applying to Petronas. In fact, because we are a charity, we actually have higher standards. We have to stretch every ringgit we have.

It doesn’t matter if you are applying at PETA, Greenpeace or The Red Cross or for a job in the corporate world. Your résumé and cover letter must be professional, relevant to the job that you are applying for and – most importantly – coherent and concise. I have read dozens of résumés over the past 15 years, and I have seen the best and the worst. Remember that your résumé is the first thing that a prospective employer will see, and it can mean the difference between getting invited for an in-person interview or being ignored. Every detail reflects your ability to do the job.

Before you even decide to send your résumé, find out what the organisation’s objectives are. If you are applying for a job at PETA, for example, you need to know that we promote a vegetarian diet and have well-defined positions on many animal rights issues. To learn more about an organisation’s work and what your responsibilities might be as an employee, visit its website and maybe even watch a few of its videos. Consider volunteering in its office for a few hours or helping the organisation with one of its events. Find out whether you like the environment and the work ethic and whether the ideals of the organisation live up to your expectations. About half of PETA’s staff members started out as volunteers or interns.

When you are ready to submit your résumé, remember this secret: your cover letter is far more valuable than your résumé. You may have next to no experience in the field that you are considering, but if you can put together a polished, professional cover letter with no mistakes, you will at least demonstrate some drive, initiative and attention to detail. If you want your résumé to be discarded without being read, be sure to put a spelling mistake in the subject line of your e-mail. Prospective employers won’t read very far if you randomly capitalise words or put them in all-caps. And forgive me for stating the obvious, but whatever you do, don’t list people as references who don’t like you or who are unlikely to say good things about you.

Another way to show a lack of attention to detail is to include (intentionally or not) the “FW:” in your subject line or to print the name of the organisation in a different colour. This makes it clear that you are just banging out a form letter that you found somewhere on the internet or saw in a book. While it may be obvious to us that you are banging out a form letter, it’s easy enough to add a few lines in order to personalise it. It is critical that you discuss the specific job or organisation that you are applying for in your cover letter. Whatever you do, don’t use a generic cover letter that could be used with any job application. Honestly, I’ve never hired anyone who left PETA’s name out of his or her cover letter.

Avoid generalities. When you describe yourself, whether in the cover letter or in your résumé, don’t tell me that you are honest and hard-working. I’ve yet to meet anyone who describes him- or herself as dishonest and lazy. Don’t tell me that you love to travel to other countries – most people like to travel. All that says is that you have unrealistic expectations about how glamorous and exciting your job will be. Don’t talk about how the job will benefit you – talk about how you can benefit the organisation. You simply need to say, “I like this and that about the organisation, and I would be good at doing this and that”. If you are applying to PETA, say something like, “I have a passion for helping animals, and I think that I could be effective in helping to educate the public about animal suffering”. Of course, the more specifics and the more relevant personal experiences that you can cite, the better.

But while it is crucial to be specific, that doesn’t mean that your résumé has to be long. There is a nasty rumour going around that longer résumés are better. This is absolutely false! You don’t need a job consultant to tell you that employers don’t have time to read 10- to 20-page résumés.

Some people have more details in their résumés than you would find in Warren Buffet’s curriculum vitae. When you fill your résumé with worthless junk, you are only detracting from the good parts. Your résumé should never be more than two pages long – and you’d better include your Nobel Prize if you make it a full two pages.

You should never, ever talk about anything from grade school – well, unless you are an elementary school teacher. When you tell me about your awards in grade school, you are saying, “I have accomplished nothing significant since elementary school”. High school is also off limits if you have been to college or university for more than two years. If you went to college, then you obviously went to high school. And no matter what university you attended, we’re now looking at your most recent work (so please don’t send us your college transcripts unless we specifically ask for them, which we won’t). If you’ve been out of college for more than five years, any information about your education other than which schools you attended and when you graduated is unnecessary, unless it is directly related to the job. I was the captain of my high school tennis team and was student body president in college. I’m proud of my achievements, but guess what? No one cares, except for maybe my mother.

Make sure your résumé stays focused on details about yourself that matter to employers. I find it really amusing when applicants include their hobbies in their résumés. You are applying for a job, not going out on a date. A prospective boyfriend or girlfriend might like to know that you enjoy exercising, going to the movies and playing the flute while chanting with your friends – a prospective boss normally won’t. Everyone likes to watch TV and listen to music, so don’t put those down as your hobbies. I don’t want to know that you like to play video games or chat online (really, people say that – a lot). While it may be common in Malaysia to include details about your family on a résumé, the reality is that we don’t need them, and they only take the focus off you. The silliest thing that I’ve ever seen listed on a résumé was an applicant’s blood type!

If you are applying for a job at PETA, don’t talk about working at a zoo (and I’ve seen that on résumés) unless you are going to tell me how your experience will help PETA stop the suffering of captive animals. If you have something in your résumé that does not seem directly relevant to the job that you are applying for, leave it out or explain specifically how that experience will make you a better fit for the organisation.

Of course, you want your résumé to stand out, but the way to do that is to follow up with a phone call to make sure that it was received. Don’t send 6-megabyte files with bright-pink pages and photos of yourself playing the guitar – unless that somehow relates to the job.

No one is going to just look at your résumé and call you up to tell you that you have the job. You’ll have to attend interviews and will probably need to take one or more tests of some sort. Consider everything that you do during the interview process, from dressing properly to being on time, as a test. And be sure to plan ahead so you don’t get caught in traffic before your interview, even if that means arriving half an hour early and waiting in a coffee shop around the block until it’s time for your interview. Being late for your first interview shows that you don’t care enough about the job to plan ahead. No excuses accepted!

As part of PETA’s interview process, applicants receive a list of questions asking how they feel about our work and tactics. We never hear back from 80 per cent of the people who apply. Of those who do reply, some send responses that are so unprofessional it can be shocking. We have a variety of questionnaires that are tailored to each job. We won’t beg people to respond (it’s all part of the test). If a prospective employer gives you a questionnaire to fill out, respond as quickly as possible. It shows that you are enthusiastic about the job, and that can often help – especially if you don’t get all the answers right!

So you’re near the end of the multistep application process, which usually ends with one or more in-person interviews. Nothing makes you stand out like your personal appearance does. An interviewee once told me that he didn’t know what to wear because he was applying for PETA and didn’t want to look too professional. I almost started to choke. You can never look too professional. No one looks at someone in a suit and says, “Hmmm … he doesn’t look trustworthy”. But you might look at a person who is dressed in jeans, a T-shirt and sandals and think that. It may not be fair, but that’s how society works. Charities are trying to get their message out to everyone, not just to the rebellious types – even if the office is made up mostly of rebellious types.

If you do make it to the interview stage, be confident but not arrogant. Don’t make demands from the start – that says, “I’m a problem”, and it means that you probably won’t get the job. Come prepared: make a list of the questions that you think are going to be asked and be ready to answer them. It’s OK if you look like you studied for the interview. It’s even OK to take notes. And bear in mind that charities pay charity wages. Working for a non-profit can be rewarding, but if you want a banker’s wage and a banker’s house, go work at a bank. Be honest about the wage that you want to make. Don’t evade the question when it is asked. If you can be honest about salary requirements during the interview process and show that it doesn’t make you uncomfortable (and the truth is, no one likes to talk about it), it will say to the interviewer that you will be a straight-talking, frank employee – and we all want that.

Now that the secret is out and you know what we look for in applicants, it’s time to check over your résumé and cover letter and start applying! Check out PETAAsiaPacific.com to view our career opportunities. Good luck!

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