Jobs

I want to leverage my USAID experience and find a job in a private foundation or philanthropic organization.

Elaine Varelas provides career guidance to a federal worker impacted by the mass job cuts.

Ask the Job Doc. Boston.com

March 12, 2025

2 minutes to read

Q. After nearly 10 years, I lost my job at USAID and have returned to the U.S. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about philanthropy and private foundations, academic, and other worlds that might be good places for me to apply my years of USAID experience and skills. After an adjustment time, I need to start up a job search. Any recommendations for resources focusing on those types of organizations or corporations that have philanthropic programs?

A. My sympathies on your job loss and the method of notification. There are way better ways, but….

Before I answer, let me talk to your potential supporters. Regardless of your political persuasion, please be generous with individuals who have been blindsided with no career services assistance after being abruptly separated from mission driven careers. Recognize that these are the people who committed to serving the government. These public servants now need your knowledge, generosity and guidance to help them transition successfully to the private sector. Hopefully, if you know anyone affected who is looking for a new opportunity, you can share job listings, share examples of great resumes or cover letters, and of course the best support, introduce them to your network.

Effective job seeking during this time of transition will involve reaching out to recruiting firms who specialize in the nonprofit world, such as The NonProfit Recruiter, Phillips Oppenheim, and Spano Pratt. And there are many people and organizations who are compiling resources and services for those who’ve been impacted by the federal layoffs. Be prepared to utilize every resource available from resume writing assistance, networking contacts, support to file for unemployment benefits, job fairs, etc.

In all your written materials, including LinkedIn, and conversations, highlight all transferable skills relevant to your target sectors. Focus on hard and soft skills. During this time of transition, it’s important to be active on LinkedIn as many are sharing their expertise, providing useful resources, offering free career coaching, and organizing webinars to help the thousands of individuals who have been impacted. Join groups and follow organizations that you are interested in working at so you can keep up to date on company happenings, events, webinars, and of course job openings.

And for those NOT impacted by the federal government layoffs, be generous during this time of transition for so many. Whether it’s a photographer offering free head shots for LinkedIn, a restaurant owner offering free meeting space, a yoga studio offering free sessions, etc., this is the time to practice little acts of generosity to help these individuals, and any job seekers.

You may not know of jobs, but if you have something that you can offer in terms of your expertise, you too can support this enormous time of transition for our government workers.

Listed below are resources that might be helpful:

USAID to Corporate Roadmap

Nonprofit Jobs: Job Board for Nonprofits, Foundations, Education & Health

Corporate foundations | Cause IQ

Find Jobs Near You – Idealist

Nonprofit Jobs | Nonprofit Careers | Work for Good

Nonprofit Jobs – Council on Foundations

SPECIAL EDITION: Resources for Unemployed Federal Workers