Preface

As with the other sectors of the economy, the non–profit and education world has gone far beyond the classifieds of the local newspaper to fill its job openings. Now 2,222 of the most helpful tools you can use for every type of job search are gathered together in the Non–Profits and Education Job Finder. And employers in the education and non–profit sector can learn what the best places are to advertise their job vacancies and generate applications from the most qualified candidates.

While most job resource books today focus solely on using the Internet in your job search, all the books in the Job Finders Series recognize that most Americans, so far, do not have access to the Internet and must rely on what I call “offline” job sources. As I’ve been doing since the first Job Finder was published in 1989, I’ve fully integrated the online job sources into each chapter so those of you who do have Internet access can learn about them as well as the offline resources that every job seeker can use.

The Job Finder Series is unique because it offers you free updates to each book on our Web site at URL: http://jobfindersonline.com and by mail. See page 8 for details on how to keep this book current. We rely on you, in large part, to help us keep it up–to–date. Please use the Reader Feedback Form on page 339 to let us know about any changes you discover in the job sources you find in this book.

The discrimination disease

I had originally written a fairly extensive Afterword for each book in the Job Finder Series to address how racial discrimination in hiring and promotions is so costly to America. With 25 years experience as an urban planner and several research projects on racial discrimination under my belt, I hope I’m reasonably qualified to write on this subject.

When I asked several other career writers if I should include this Afterword in any of the Job Finders, I got three different answers: “Yes,” “No,” and “Why bother? Nobody really seems to care anymore.”

The bottom line turned out to be that these are books about finding jobs. The best way to use these books to help overcome discriminatory employment practices is to include information on job sources that were created to combat discrimination. These job periodicals feature job ads from employers who want potential employees to know that their hiring policies are inclusionary, and they do not discriminate in hiring or promotions. They want potential employees to know that they offer a level playing field where hiring and promotions are based on merit.

Rather than segregate these job sources into a special section of their own, they are fully integrated throughout each Job Finder to encourage readers to use the full range of job–search resources available. I am not implying that the employers who advertise vacancies only in the other job sources engage in illegal racial discrimination. I am simply suggesting that some employers want members of minority groups to know that they do not discriminate.

Each potential employee should be evaluated on her own merits and nothing else. Race, gender, religion, physical limitations not related to job performance, and other factors unrelated to carrying out the job are not legitimate reasons to reject a job applicant. It’s an open secret that illegal discrimination, largely based on race, continues to be widespread, particularly throughout the business world. Who can forget the disparaging remarks a group of top Texaco executives made about African American employees, statements that revealed how ingrained and vicious this discrimination can be? But as Texaco’s own president and chief executive officer Peter Bijur reported on national television, the attitudes shown by Texaco’s executives were just the “tip of the iceberg” in corporate America.

There is simply no rational justification for discrimination in hiring or promotions. To systematically exclude anybody from equal access to quality jobs due to the color of their skin only results in damaged lives and wasted “human capital,” to put it in terms the business community might understand. It only creates costly problems that drain the economy and national budget. It is completely unAmerican. I only pray that our elected officials and business leaders begin a real war to eradicate the disease of racial discrimination as soon as possible. Racial discrimination in the workplace is so ingrained that it will take a massive inoculation to cure this debilitating affliction.

Now that I’ve had my say, it's time to recognize the good people who helped produce this book.

Acknowledgments

Producing a book of this scope and detail is not a task for just one person. It required months of expensive, detailed research to discover the 2,222 job sources described here and to verify exactly what each one offers.

This book could not have been produced without the incredible work of Senior Research Associate Robert Pruter. He joined Planning/Communications after 27 years at New Standard Encyclopedia where he researched and wrote thousands of articles for that tome. It didn’t take long for him to realize that the research for this book and the others in the Job Finders Series was more demanding than researching any encyclopedia. Author of two highly–regarded books himself — Chicago Soul and Doowop: The Chicago Scene — as well as liner notes for scores of compact disks and record albums, Bob displayed a doggedness, devotion to accuracy, and resourcefulness that has made a major contribution to all four Job Finders, but especially to this book. I thank him from the bottom of my heart and am honored for the opportunity to have worked with him.

Other researchers who merit recognition for their contributions to this book are Chris Wienke, Maureen Flagg, and Brian Dichter. Their efforts in the early stages of conducting research for this book were most valuable.

The very kind cooperation of the people who publish and operate the job sources described in these pages was crucial. I thank them for providing the information needed to determine if the job–quest tools they produce and operate would really help people seeking work in education and the rest of the non–profit sector.

Joyce Lain Kennedy’s support and very kind Foreword she wrote for this book are very much appreciated. All career writers value her efforts to keep her readers informed of new, effective career books from small publishers. It was a real pleasure to finally meet her last year. Thanks also go to career authors Ronald Krannich, Richard Bolles, Martin Yate, Dennis Damp, and Brian Krueger for their words of wisdom and encouragement along the way. They’ve all helped set a standard for writing substantive career books that really do help job seekers find their way.

Most of all, I thank my wife Diana, for not only putting up with my eccentricities while researching and writing this book (during which I did a very accurate impression of an obsessed workaholic), but for also offering valuable advice on the manuscript as well as moral support when the going got tough. I doubt if I could have written this book, much less three books at once, without her love and understanding.

Daniel Lauber
Author

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