Career Services Spotlight – Kristen Kenner, MPA ’19, Candid

What is your new job? Marketing Manager at Candid (formerly Foundation Center and Guidestar). Candid is a national nonprofit that helps individuals and nonprofits find grants and funding faster. I am responsible for developing marketing strategies that drive revenue and increase our subscriber base.

How long were you actively job seeking?
I’d been actively searching since November/December 2018. I started my current role in June.

What was your job search strategy during this period?
I had three goals in mind when job hunting and for each I used the following strategies:

Assess the company’s culture: It’s extremely important to me to feel good, not only about the work I’m doing, but who I’m doing it with. When searching and applying for jobs I would tap my network (LinkedIn and otherwise) to see if I had a connection to anyone at the company’s I was applying for. From there I’d ask those connections to give me their honest thoughts about the company (is it headed in a positive direction? Do people feel good coming to work? What are the highs/lows?)

Earn more: I believe I brought more value to my previous company than I was compensated for. In my job search I had a salary range in mind and applied for jobs that I sensed could accommodate that range.

Network, network, network: This is extremely cliché, but who you know really matters. And I don’t mean in the nepotism way because that’s not how I landed my current role (or any role). But it’s super important that you connect with people whether they’re in your field or not. Everyone knows someone, and you don’t always need to aim to network with the CEO (you’ll likely get a faster response if you don’t). Your roommate’s bestie may already work at your dream job or the new friend you made at a networking event may work at a company hiring for your exact skill set.

Key places I networked
In person: take advantage of Baruch events and the career center (ask for Marny!), professional associations, Meetup.com, Idealist, etc. Online: In Slack groups (LadiesGetPaid, MiMConnect, etc.) and LinkedIn. Word of mouth: Without being tacky, I’d tell any who’d listen that I was looking for a new opportunity.

What do you think were the secrets to your success?
Casting a wide net, setting up job alerts (LinkedIn, Idealist, David’s Careers, PND job list, Marxe Graduate Career Services), and doing one thing everyday to push me along in my search (updating my LinkedIn profile, tweaking my resume, revising cover letters, etc.)

What advice do you have for job seekers out there?
I’m a firm believer in two things:

1) Speak what you want into the Universe. If you want a new job, more money, a fresh start, speak it into existence. Put it on a vision board, write it in your journal every day, repeat it every morning like a mantra, and then…

2) Work at it every day. One of my favorite quotes is “Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn’t work hard.” You can be the best at what you do or what you know, but if you don’t work hard you’ll never get what you seek.

Job hunting is both a game of luck and perseverance. Remind yourself daily what the end goal is and take one step everyday to get yourself there.