Our mission here at The Muse is simple: to help you find your dream job. So, there’s nothing we love more than hearing about it when you do!
Today, we caught up with Emily Collins, who recently landed a great gig as a Marketing and Communications Fellow at GlobalGiving, helping connect nonprofits to individuals, companies, and their peers so they can improve their communities—and ignite change around the world.
Read below to learn more about how Collins landed such a rewarding gig, then check out the company’s offices and see whether there might be a place for you, too.
Tell us about yourself!
I recently graduated from Southern Connecticut State University with a degree in Sociology—so you might say I live my life with a side of social, well, everything. I’m a huge fan of most forms of social media (Tumblr being my favorite), I’m incredibly passionate about social justice, and I always saw myself in working in the social good sector—which is what brought me to GlobalGiving!
What were you looking for in a job?
Working for a socially responsible company or organization was important to me during my job search. My previous internship experience was working as a digital content intern for a startup, and all throughout my undergraduate career I gravitated toward philanthropy and service learning. Working in the social good or nonprofit sector felt like the natural next step.
What stuck out to you about the company when you found it on The Muse?
To be honest, I never thought of myself as the type of person to have a job that ticked every box until I stumbled upon GlobalGiving on The Muse!
The description of this role at GlobalGiving was almost too good to be true! Most of my experience during undergrad was in philanthropy, social media, and community outreach. The description for my fellowship combined all of these things, but on a global scale.
The Muse helped me get a feel for the culture and ethos of GlobalGiving. You can only learn so much from an organization’s website—it’s nice to hear from the people who are behind the work. The Muse gave me a peek into the office, and the interviews with team members about their positions helped me understand GlobalGiving’s mission a bit more.
What’s something most people would find surprising about working at this company?
Despite GlobalGiving being very innovative and tech-based, peer-to-peer or peer-to-organization communication is very much valued. GlobalGiving works with thousands of nonprofit organizations and is able to maintain a very human connection, even if the organization is halfway around the world. If you call or email in to GlobalGiving with a question, you’ll get a response from a person.
Additionally, GlobalGiving is very committed to receiving feedback from our nonprofit partners and donors. Just recently, our program team held a “town hall” forum for our nonprofit partners to ask questions and offer feedback. Working for an organization that is so committed to becoming more effective is an absolute dream.
What’s your favorite part so far about working at this company?
It’s hard to narrow it down to just one favorite thing. I’m going to name a few!
At GlobalGiving, I get to do a lot of one-on-one communication with donors from all over the world. It’s inspiring to hear their stories and what compelled them to give to different projects. It’s quite humbling to hear the different reasons why people choose to donate.
The second thing: I’ve learned more in my past few months with GlobalGiving than I have in any other position. I’m grateful to be surrounded by people who wholeheartedly believe in the work they’re doing. I get to wake up each day excited to go to the office—now imagine working with 40 other people who feel the same way.
Is there anything from The Muse that helped you out in your job hunt?
I found out about The Muse two years ago from a friend and have been following ever since. Before I even started applying for jobs, I would check out the job board and look at the different offices profiled on The Muse. It’s been a continuous place of inspiration for me these past few years.
I completely revamped my resume with help from “The 41 Best Resume Templates Ever,” and “31 Attention-Grabbing Cover Letter Examples” brought me from boring “Emily Collins: recent graduate” to confident “Emily Collins: the girl you need for this job” in my cover letter.
What advice would you have for someone who wanted a job like yours?
There is something to learn from every single person around you. Being a part of a fellowship program, I have the unique opportunity to learn about the nonprofit world from 40 entirely different perspectives within GlobalGiving. If somebody at your organization is doing something incredible that you want to learn more about, be curious and let them know you’re interested! No matter how experienced you are, there is always something new to discover.
