Case Studies

U.S. PIRG - from Sarah Bennett, Recruitment Director

U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), stands up to powerful special interests on behalf of the American public, working to win concrete results for our health and our well-being. With a strong network of researchers, advocates, organizers and students in state capitols across the country, we take on the special interests on issues, such as product safety, political corruption, prescription drugs and voting rights, where these interests stand in the way of reform and progress.

Within the nonprofit advocacy community, U.S. PIRG is probably best known for the training we provide hundreds of entry-level staff each year. We pride ourselves on training the next generation of activists -- taking college graduates right out of school with little experience and teaching them how to be effective organizers and advocates.

Historically, our recruitment model has been focused on finding candidates on college campuses and through the college career placement offices. Since most of those candidates are graduating seniors, we have them all start at a big training during the summer after all the schools are finished. But we also needed new staff to start throughout the rest of the year.

Hiring Work for Progress allowed us to reach a whole new audience to meet this need without distracting us from our core model. Their ad strategy allowed us to find applicants who were either already out of school or attending a school where we were not recruiting. Last year, Work for Progress generated over 4,000 resumes from applicants that wouldn't have otherwise heard about our job opportunities. And, because most of these candidates were already out of school, we were able to fill most of our staffing needs throughout the year.