As a passionate advocate for talent management and someone deeply engaged in the higher education environment, I believe in the transformative power of transferable skills. Traditionally, when assessing potential employees, higher education institutions have primarily emphasized fundraising-specific experience. While this remains important, the dynamic nature of today’s philanthropic landscape and growing talent scarcity both call for a broader approach. Unconventional recruiting efforts that prioritize transferable skills have emerged as a viable response to this changing landscape.

But what exactly are transferable skills? Transferable skills, often referred to as soft skills or portable skills, are versatile abilities that can be applied across various industries. They include critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, adaptability, leadership, tenacity, teamwork, and emotional intelligence, among others. These skills are in demand by employers, as they enable individuals to navigate diverse work environments and contribute effectively to their teams.

One compelling argument for seriously considering candidates with transferable skills is it helps teams and managers expand the talent management pipeline. When we embrace unconventional recruiting efforts, we open the door to a treasure trove of talent that might otherwise go unnoticed. Imagine the fresh perspectives, innovative ideas, and diverse experiences that these individuals can bring to institutions. By broadening our horizons and looking beyond conventional criteria, we create an environment that fosters creativity, collaboration, and growth. At the Louisiana State University Foundation, U.S., some of our most successful hires were previously a teacher, a salesperson, and even a pastor!

While the number of institutions that are adopting this approach is indeed growing, there are managers who balk at the idea. Job applicants may have a limited understanding of higher education’s unique environment, and there’s often a steep learning curve for newcomers. So it makes sense that hiring managers want applicants who fit the typical fundraiser profile: someone with several years of fundraising experience with a university or foundation who has consistently secured a significant number of gifts each year—and, for good measure, happens to be a graduate of the university. 

Managers should identify two qualities during the recruitment process to increase their likelihood of finding a successful nontraditional candidate, especially if the candidate is early in their career. Read on to learn how looking for these two qualities in candidates—and onboarding them strategically—has helped the LSU Foundation successfully recruit outside the box.

Credit: We Are/digitalvision

Capacity and Desire to Do the Job

When it comes to hiring new employees, it is crucial for organizations to ensure that candidates have the capacity and ability to excel in their roles. Interviews play a vital role in helping managers assess a candidate’s qualifications, skills, and compatibility with the job requirements. During interviews, employers can evaluate a candidate’s communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and critical thinking by asking open-ended questions, presenting hypothetical scenarios, and conducting role-play scenarios. Employers can then assess how candidates approach challenges and whether they possess the necessary cognitive abilities to handle the complexities of the job.

The second quality speaks to whether the candidate’s values align similarly with the organization’s guiding principles. When employees genuinely desire to work at an organization, they bring a sense of enthusiasm, dedication, and commitment to their roles. At the LSU Foundation, we also use the interview process as a vehicle to determine a candidate’s alignment with our team values of excellence, professional growth, respect, and spirit. The following questions assess these values.

Quality of work: “What steps did you take to ensure the quality of your work and what were the results or feedback you received?”

Initiative to learn new skills: “Can you share an example of a time when you proactively sought to expand your knowledge in a professional setting?”

Embrace of collegialism: “Can you provide an example of a time when you actively collaborated with colleagues or team members to achieve a common goal?”

Desire to have fun in the workplace: “Share an example of a time when you incorporated fun or enjoyment into your work.”

Steps to Ensure That New Staff “Get It”

Once we’ve assessed via this interview process a candidate’s capacity and desire to do the job, what can organizations do next to help early-career professionals “get it,” or obtain the skills to do the job?

At the LSU Foundation, we inform our prospective employees about what they can expect to learn before they are onboarded. Prior to their first day, each employee completes an online, self-directed orientation to the organization that informs them about who we are, organizational structure, and various departmental functions, among other important information.

New employees take introductory learning and development sessions in measured, bite-size doses across a 90-day time frame. This approach contradicts the common managerial expectation for new employees to “hit the ground running.” While that phrase conveys a sense of immediate productivity and efficiency, following this logic can lead to a lack of proper onboarding, an increased risk of mistakes, and the potential for burnout.

For us, it was incredibly important for our employees to “get it” from both halves of the all-important whole: hard-skill and soft-skill development. We were able to achieve both through an online program called “Launch: Skills for Success in Fundraising,” built in partnership with Advancement Resources, a global professional education service. We created the program based on the results of a study that included interviews, focus groups, and survey responses from more than 150 professional fundraisers that sought to answer questions such as:

• What are the actions, habits, skills, and knowledge areas essential to major gift fundraisers’ success as they embark upon their careers?
• What would most help them contribute to their organization’s important mission? 
• What is currently standing in their way? 

Key findings of the study revealed that:

• Skills ratings overall were low—56.7 of 100, on average—revealing that early-career fundraisers feel a lack of confidence in themselves and in their more tenured colleagues’ perceptions of them.
• Fundraisers rate handling difficult conversations with donors and securing meetings by phone as the two most challenging skills.
• Qualitative research reveals that three of the most critical qualities for professional fundraisers are tenacity, professionalism, and curiosity.

The e-learning solution we created comprises 18 interactive courses that offer the ideal approach to training—both objective and subjective, quantifiable and qualitative, hard skills-based and soft skills-based—for, ideally, that early-career, nontraditional fundraiser. Each course takes approximately 30 to 60 minutes to complete and covers topics like “Why Donors Give,” “Managing a Donor Meeting,” and “How to Work With Internal Partners,” to more competency-based topics like “Cultivating Curiosity,” “Developing Grit,” and “An Attitude of Gratitude.”

Despite the course’s obvious outcomes of helping new staff become more knowledgeable about fundraising approaches and strategies, it also gives participating employees a tremendous confidence boost. It addresses their admitted concerns about not possessing the traditional background or experience that many of their colleagues have.

Not only has “Launch” been an excellent learning and development tool, it also provides another unexpected insight. Because it is online, we are able to observe who needs pushing and prodding to actively participate and who doesn’t. Those who don’t need regular reminders show us that they are solidly in the “Desire To Do the Job” group. Fundraisers who immediately embrace “Launch” not only consistently meet or exceed their metrics but also regularly exhibit strong soft skills as well.

The results of this out-of-the-box approach and these strategies speak for themselves: the LSU Foundation has witnessed increased productivity, improved collaboration, and a positive impact on the overall success of our institution. Embracing unconventional recruiting methods is not just a progressive talent management approach but also a pathway to unlocking the true potential of our workforce.