​When you apply for roles within a charity you will usually have to submit a copy of your CV. It’s the most important document you have to show your experience to date. For this reason, it’s vital that this gives a truly coherent overview of what you have achieved, as well as your main skills and your education. It also needs to be written with your audience in mind. The r...

Our guest blog this week comes from Jane Curtis, a former fundraiser who runs her own consultancy."I have moved around a bit during my 20 years as a fundraiser. I have managed big and small teams, had permanent jobs, interim roles and contract positions. And now as a consultant with my own business, I know only too well how important training and looking after your career ...

​How to be a star in competency-based interviewsOver the past couple of weeks, three things have had me thinking more and more about interview preparation.One of my candidates thanked me for sending them the Charity People interview guide. I also had a really enjoyable pre-interview preparation session with another candidate. And finally, I came across a tweet about some bri...

​Bringing a fundraiser into your organisation for the first time is a huge step for any charity. It means that you are ready to grow and engage new individuals with your cause and start making (more) fundraising asks. Before you start to write a job description and person specification or to put out a job advert, there are some vital steps to ensure your charity is Fundrai...

​​The Job description is one of the most important documents in your arsenal when working in a candidate-short, competitive market, in order to engage the right people in your role. It is important that the job description covers: what will be required of the person in detail so that potential applicants are able to understand if the role matches their requirements for their...

​Conscious that I have an innate tendency to talk at a million miles an hour and with the added pressure of public speaking, I wanted to share some of the ideas and thoughts that came out of Tuesday’s Career Mapping conversation with the Institute of Fundraising in Manchester. It’s probably quite on topic, as public speaking is one of the areas I’m working on personally at t...

​The best questions to ask at the end of an Interview. The questions you ask in an interview are very telling. Here are some top tips from our consultant, Ben Garner…In order to make an informed decision about whether this is the right move for you there are a range of questions you can ask. You will have your own expectations on what you're looking for; be it career progres...

​Cover Letters - Prescriptive or not? - Top Evaluation TipsClients often tell us they struggle to evaluate and appraise Cover Letters effectively but nonetheless they are a common tool used in selecting new recruits. Tips on how to get the most out of this stage of recruitment.Evaluating a Covering LetterPeople write their CVs in all sorts of weird and wonderful formats, len...

Writing a cover letter can be a chore, especially when applying for a number of roles. As consultants, we know they can be difficult and often go back to candidates to help them amend ones they’ve submitted.Knowing what to include and what to leave out can drive one to distraction. So here are a few things you need to know to make sure that your cover letter stands out:Your ...

​How much money does the hospice need to raise each year?When I started we had to raise £4 million and now we're at £12 million overall; it increases all the time. A quarter of that is from statutory sources, whereas it used to be a third so we're definitely upping the ante on our voluntary income. Having that flexibility when you have money that you can spend as you wish me...

​Employment testing is not unique to the charity sector. However, there are several reasons why it makes sense to use these tools when looking for new recruits in this sector.Psychometric testing has been around since 1905. Today’s evidence shows this type of testing is increasing among employers. One body of research indicated an 18% rise over a two-year period. Yet employm...

​Kemar Walford has over 10 years of experience in Fundraising and the wider Third Sector, which includes working with mainstream charities such as London Youth, Caritas Anchor House, Ladies Who Learn and the Bromley by Bow Centre. He worked for the Big Lottery Fund for the bulk of his career in grant assessment, management and more recently supporting groups in the West Midl...

"Fear of failure was stopping my personal development." Read how Ellen took the plunge.​Fear of failure. I can safely say I have that in abundance; a definite born worrier. I've always been quite risk averse, but until it came to writing this blog I hadn't fully identified that it might actually be bordering on self-sabotage.I have always been pretty steadfast in my professi...

As part of the lead up to Pizza for Losers, Stuart tells how he used a bitter disappointment to drive him forward.I have played Rugby all of my life. I have had my share of highs and lows along the way. In my latter years of school and club level rugby I played with a great team. Our successes meant that we made the finals of a national tournament. It was to be played at Twi...

Our amazing and successful consultant, Anna Ludeman, is everything that you could hope for in a team member. Here she sounds the call for greater flexibility in charities.On my mission to find more opportunities for part time workers, there is a phrase that I hear time and time again -'We will only consider someone part time if they are an exceptional candidate'.I have nodde...

"Everyone feels out of their depth sometimes" - find out how Alice learnt from failure. Part of the lead up to #PizzaForLosersAnyone who knows me well knows that I am someone who is prone to worry. I think that that I would also be described as naturally conscientious, organised, and capable. Which I know isn't entirely true, at least not the "naturally" part.Most of the big...

​Nick leads our team of fundraising recruitment experts, as well as taking on senior executive search projects. Inspired by Pizza for Losers, this is how Nick learnt from a past failure.Like many colleagues past and present, I had entered the recruitment world straight out of university, in truth not knowing what I wanted to do, but driven to somehow start making some of my ...

​Anita has over 17 years' experience working in the voluntary sector in income generation and communications positions. Her strengths are in people management, strategic and business development. Anita has successfully united all income generating activities at the hospice and developed a cohesive strategy that has seen rapid growth and development. New initiatives include t...

Amanda Bringans joined the British Heart Foundation in December 2015. She has a strong background in fundraising, strategic development and implementation, strategic brand management and communications. Amanda has held interim fundraising director posts at Leonard Cheshire Disability and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. Before that she was Director of Global Fundraising and Com...

​What does leadership mean to you?Motivating and inspiring a team is about providing direction and clarity of purpose. In terms of my own approach and leadership style, I try to be really collaborative. But I also don’t think anyone wants a leader who dithers and can’t make decisions on their own; there are times when you need to give clear direction.Wherever I can, I try to...