The candidate for the job at Dogs for the Deaf, a charity in southern Oregon, came from the Boston area. As she sped toward the nonprofit’s office for an interview, she gazed at a cattle ranch that straddled the road ... for five miles.
“Wow,” she said. “There are so many ... cows.”
Did she take the job? Nope, says John Drach, the group’s training manager, laughing. “Too rural for her!”
Dogs for the Deaf, a 40-year-old group that trains and provides service animals to people with hearing impairments, has a four-star rating from Charity Navigator. Last fall, Oregon Business magazine named it one of the top 100 nonprofits to work for in the state. And yet the charity finds its bucolic locale can make it tougher to fill jobs. The nearest big city is Portland, a four-and-a-half-hour drive away. Sometimes, says Mr. Drach, positions in his department sit vacant for nearly a year.
Nonprofit organizations in rural towns, remote regions, or tiny cities often struggle to attract skilled managers and fundraisers, who may be lured by bigger salaries and cultural and economic opportunities in urban areas. But some recruiters have developed strategies to help charities compete. Here, a few offer advice for getting — and keeping — a talented staff that will embrace country living.
Don’t settle for Skype. When candidates sound promising, make sure they see the organization’s community in person, hiring managers say. In addition to interviewing with different members of the staff, give the candidate a tour of the town, focusing on neighborhoods, schools, and local attractions like parks.
Be a booster. “Don’t apologize for where you live,” says Robert Martin, vice president for advancement at Central Michigan University, in Mount Pleasant. “Look at what’s good there and sell it. I see colleagues at other organizations who say, ‘We can’t get anyone to come here.’ I say, ‘You don’t sell your city.’ "
Mr. Martin touts not only his region’s affordable houses and quality schools but also the nearby casino, which brings in top-flight entertainers such as Steve Martin and Don Henley. His staff helps him maintain a list of local attractions; his daughters have reminded him to include kid magnets like shopping malls.
Be candid. Sure, a four-bedroom house in your town might cost a fraction of what you’d pay for a studio apartment in New York or San Francisco. But some everyday experiences will cost more or be more complicated than they would in a big city, say nonprofit managers, so it’s best to be honest about them. If housing is cheap, “the flip side of that is that you spend more on gas to get around,” says Tyler Vacha, director of development at the Center for Rural Affairs, a think tank in Lyons, Neb.
Think like a fundraiser. “You really have to almost treat your top job candidates as you would a donor,” Mr. Vacha says. “Really try to sell your mission and your vision and your work in order to really help them understand why they’re needed and what the opportunity is here for them to make a difference.”
And keep courting, he says. “You really have to steward your top candidates ... and get them to say yes to you, just as much as they’re trying to get you to say yes to them.”
When Mr. Vacha interviewed for his job nearly four years ago, the group’s executive director took him for an informal dinner after his formal interview. The dinner evolved into “a great brainstorming session,” Mr. Vacha says, and helped close the deal.
Consider the spouse. The most common question hiring managers get from job candidates is whether their spouse or partner will be able to find a job in the area. Offering to help connect a candidate’s partner to potential employers can make a big difference.
Even in small towns with a dearth of big companies, jobs can be found — or created. “For the generation that graduated in the early 2000s from high school, there are tons of opportunities in rural America,” Mr. Vacha says. Country lawyers, doctors, insurance agents, and others are nearing retirement age, he says, “so there’s opportunity in America for entrepreneurship, taking over businesses.”
Getting a foothold in some of those fields might be easier than in a big city with more competition, he says.
Offer perks, both traditional and creative. Housing might be cheap in small or remote communities, but it is also likely in short supply.
Berea College, in Kentucky, owns several properties, says Bernadine Douglas, vice president for alumni and college relations, and rents them out to new hires at a reduced rate for up to three years. But even if your organization can’t play landlord, it can make an effort to connect employees with housing options in town — or even in a nearby city if someone wants to commute.
In belt-tightening years, rural charities should resist the urge to trim benefits like health insurance, retirement, and paid leave, says Harvey Potts, director of development at Dogs for the Deaf. Keeping such perks robust, he says, can give small-town recruiters an advantage.
Spontaneous perks, like outings to local sporting events or in-office celebrations, can help boost morale and foster a sense of belonging. At Central Michigan University, Mr. Martin has started an occasional staff movie day during downtimes, like spring break. “We’re going to get together and watch some Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We bought cake,” he reported on the day of the latest cinema break. “This staff is like family. We treat you special here.”
Stay flexible. Give employees the opportunity to work remotely, at least part of the time, say nonprofit managers. When Mr. Vacha was hired at the Center for Rural Affairs, he was allowed to work remotely for six months; he credits the policy with helping ease his transition from his previous job in Des Moines.
If a job is too hard to fill, consider other possibilities, says Ms. Douglas. “Can we use consultants to do some of this work, or do we need a staff person?” she asks. “Understand that there’s more than one way to address this challenge.”
Keep single and minority candidates’ needs in mind. Nonprofits in rural communities, which are often overwhelmingly white and centered on families, may especially struggle to recruit single or minority job seekers. Ms. Douglas, an African-American, ultimately felt that her affinity for Berea College’s mission — to educate low-income students from Appalachia — trumped her anxieties about joining a community that’s nearly 90 percent white. But she understands those concerns and helps candidates who also worry about fitting in..
All job candidates consider “the softer things,” like quality of life, Ms. Douglas says. “But then there are additional things I think candidates of color look at when they’re trying to decide. Where will I worship? Where can I get my hair done? There are all of these things that we kind of laugh about. Until you’re hired and you’re the person of color, and you go, Oh, my God. Wait. Where am I going to do that?”
Build a pipeline. Roughly 40 percent of Berea College’s student enrollment is nonwhite, she says, diversity that is not reflected in the institution’s fundraising staff. The college is using an outside recruiter to help find more candidates for senior positions, Ms. Douglas says. But it’s also scaling back a major-gifts position that’s long sat vacant and placing it at the associate level. “Our goal is to try to hire a Berea alum of color,” she says. “Because we believe, for these kind of entry-level positions, we’ve got to grow our own.”
