Op ed from outgoing staff member Olivia: why you should start your career in a small but growing and innovative non profit

If you are starting your career- in any field this blog post is for you! If you’ve spent time with me, we’ve probably chatted about this topic before – the benefits of working in small, innovative, and creative non-profits early in your career.

Over the last few months I’ve been transiting away from my role at Waterlution and began working as an entrepreneur, freelance facilitating. I’m reflecting on how finding the right “early career work home” set me up for success and career satisfaction. Yes, you read that right, after 5 wonderful years, I have departed from the Waterlution staff team.

Photo: Olivia, Karen, Jonas and participants at Water Innovation Lab Canada 2018

In an ever-changing and fast-changing world the jobs of tomorrow might not even exist right now, if you look at desired skills for future work, you’ll see the top skills needed in the future (besides technology) are focused on things like critical thinking, problem-solving, resilience, leadership and creativity. Innovative non-profits who are piloting and experimenting with exceptional work will give you these skills! Whether you decide to go corporate, enter government, becoming an entrepreneur, or jump to a larger NGO in the future- a forward-thinking NGO is a playful and strategic place to start your career in any sector.

In an ever-changing and fast-changing world the jobs of tomorrow might not even exist right now, if you look at desired skills for future work, you’ll see the top skills needed in the future (besides technology) are focused on things like critical thinking, problem-solving, resilience, leadership and creativity. Innovative non-profits who are piloting and experimenting with exceptional work will give you these skills! Whether you decide to go corporate, enter government, becoming an entrepreneur, or jump to a larger NGO in the future- a forward-thinking NGO is a playful and strategic place to start your career in any sector.

Photo Caption: The top ten skills of 2025 according to the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report from 2020

In my first few years of professional work, I had some entry level positions in the private sector and in government. In these experiences, corporate level job descriptions dictated what I was allowed to do under my defined role which was limited to a specific payrange. The sectors of these workplaces I fit into had limited growth and many outstanding juniors were hoping they could secure an intermediate position a few years down the road. On top of that , I felt my knowledge, skills and abilities were undervalued and underutilized, so even if I found the impact of the work motivating and meaningful, the systems in place did not make me feel valued or challenged. I still didn’t know what I wanted to be, but I knew I couldn’t build the skills that interested me if I were in a junior position for 5+ years, which was the reality in the 2010’s.

Here is why:

1. There is room to learn and grow alongside the organization with a dedicated core team, who will value competent, hard-working, passionate, inclusive, and committed people.
2. When there are only a few people to do the work, and you have the potential to have a skill, you’ll probably get the chance to try out, learn, and grow the skill.
3. Your promotions will be connected to your outputs and the organization growth you help make happen.
4. Coordinating and managing projects will give you a transferable skill-set and your resume will be more dynamic. Building core coordination and project management skills is essential for moving into a leadership role in any future employer or sector.

Find a non-profit that “calls you in”, a certain mission, the vision, and the energy, and intent put into the content on the website- the feeling it creates needs to spark excitement, so you can make a deeper connection with your work. I felt so drawn to Waterlution because they were blending leadership processes like system thinking and applied it in a water innovation context. Immediately knew I wanted to get involved.

Caption: Volunteers Olivia & Emilie participating in a team building and trust activity at the youth advisory board retreat and training in autumn 2016

The volunteer program I started out in (the Youth Advisory Board) laid out a participative leadership approach, where I could gain leadership and project management skills (in environmental education but transferable) in a collaborative space, with mentorship and guidance from the staff team.

I quickly realised that in addition to aligning with the mission of Waterlution, the leadership in the organization was equally important. Having a boss that valued my ideas, offered guidance but also provided space for me to really take the lead, but my skills and confidence at the same time. I didn’t know how to explain it at the time but being part of an organization that was operating as a peer support network instead of a hierarchy was important to me – I desired to learn new things by doing them (with mentorship!). If you’ve been dreaming of more responsibility like I was, and you take this advice, get ready for it…pilots and prototypes will be your best friend. You’ll be building new connections and skills quickly.

One experience that really stood out to me, I was living in BC and leading a national training and retreat for the youth advisors. It was my second time hosting a Waterlution young professional training. I was a wee 26, and only about a year into my role as the youth program coordinator. It wasn’t in the budget for another staff member to fly to BC to support me, so it was just myself and our summer student Owais coordinating and delivering the three day training to about 30 young leaders. The responsibility at the time was daunting, but I had great support from Karen on the how-to and training modules. In practice I was preparing training materials and facilitation agendas, booking flights, coordinating car pools, liaising with First Nations partners. Ordering food, getting insurance, the list went on! Each day I felt accomplished, more prepared, less overwhelmed and more confident. Leaning on Karen for mentorsip, Owais the summer student, the First Nations partners and I delivered the event and it was a great success!

Another interesting element of Waterlution’s work at the time I was joining was the online meetings and group engagement element of the work. Little did I know in 2016 how valuable of a skill hosting engaging online events and discussions would be in 2022!

Caption: YAB retreat and training in Squamish BC, August 2018

Making decisions early in my career was challenging, but I know following my interests and passions have been a key part of finding a rewarding career path. And now years later, deciding to step away from the Waterlution staff team, was difficult, but I look forward to new challenges, and learnings and will carry with me many in-demand transferable skills as I continue to be a water dialogue facilitator in other capacities (a job that didn’t exist when I graduated). Sending good vibes to all those I’ve met and worked with on this journey it’s been an honour and a pleasure to co-create with you!