Accelerate Your Social Impact Career

4 Weeks

Cohort-based Course

Turn stressful job searching into a career roadmap that will help you become a master at the game of landing jobs in the impact sector.

Accelerate Your Social Impact Career

4 Weeks

Cohort-based Course

Turn stressful job searching into a career roadmap that will help you become a master at the game of landing jobs in the impact sector.

Hosted by

Craig Zelizer, PhD

Professor, Founder & Angel Investor. Aligning Opportunity to Talent.

Craig Zelizer, PhD

Professor, Founder & Angel Investor. Aligning Opportunity to Talent.

Course overview

We Need Impact Work More Than Ever

The world needs changemakers, but the sector is struggling.

The social impact space is facing real challenges—major funding cuts, widespread layoffs, and AI displacement are creating tough conditions for job seekers.

Competition has intensified while opportunities have shrunk in many sectors. Without a strategic approach, you're at a serious disadvantage.

This cohort-based course will help you:

• Navigate the current market across nonprofits, corporations, government, and social enterprises

• Position yourself strategically by assessing skills.

• Balance values with reality - finding meaningful work that pays the bills

• Build systems that work for job search, applications, and networking for impact

• Leverage AI tools where appropriate to radically reduce the amount of time in applying many jobs but up to 80% but how to still keep your applications human focused.

• Future-proof your career with skills that remain valuable as work transforms

We'll be honest about the challenges and realistic about outcomes. This won't guarantee a job, but will significantly improve your approach and decision-making across the full range of impact careers.

Learn everything we know about building and advancing a sustainable career in social impact.

Who is this course for

If you aren't hearing back from impact organizations; or landing interviews, but not getting an offer.

Been there done that. You have worked hard & made money. But, now you want to leverage your skills to pivot to a impact career.

The world is in crisis. You would love to change the world while making a living.

If you aren't hearing back from impact organizations; or landing interviews, but not getting an offer.

Been there done that. You have worked hard & made money. But, now you want to leverage your skills to pivot to a impact career.

The world is in crisis. You would love to change the world while making a living.

What you’ll get out of this course

Skills Are Key

You will dive into an exploration of what you love, what you are good at, what you can get paid doing (and who is hiring), & what is needed in this world that is in deep crisis.

Understanding the Market Realities

Reality check. We can't look into a dark room. We turn on the lights to unravel where the $ are, areas of expansion and contraction in the social impact space and what employers seek in the impact sector.

Preparation is everything

Students will walk away with templates to organize and optimize their job search process. Equally important is you will learn where to find the jobs.

Build the Best Materials

Sharing my three decades of experience mentoring social impact professionals, hiring, talking with employers and researching will help you build the best resume and application mateirals.

The Nuts and Bolts

How to excel at job interviews in the impact sector; when and how to negotiate effectively for salary and benefits and tips on how to vet organizations to ensure you land in a healthy working environment.

Networking for Purpose

We will explore why putting purpose, curiosity and service are key to radically expanding your impact network. LinkedIn is a key part of this but there are many other ways to connect in person, online and more.

AI & Your Impact Career

We will explore throughout the course how to use AI Tools around career visioning, applications such as Lex.page, Perplexity or ChatGPT, AI Resume Tools and more, to advance your career, improve your materials and save lots of time.

A Career is a Marathon not a Spring

Building a career is much more than landing your next job. Your career is the sum of your education, your networks & continued upskilling.

Access to a Global Community

Participants in the course will also receive a one year membership to the PCDN Career Campus. Members received over 350 curated job & fellowship, funding & social entrepreneur opps monthly + ongoing support.

What’s included

Live sessions

Learn directly from Craig Zelizer, PhD in a real-time, interactive format.

Lifetime access

Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.

Community of peers

Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.

Certificate of completion

Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.

Maven Guarantee

This course is backed by the Maven Guarantee. Students are eligible for a full refund up until the halfway point of the course.

Course syllabus

7 live sessions • 4 lessons • 5 projects

Week 1

Oct 15—Oct 19

Oct

Session 1

Wed 10/153:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

Basecamp. Mapping your skills to fit the market.

3 items

Equip yourself. Build Incredible Application Materials Week 2

1 item

Week 2

Oct 20—Oct 26

Oct

Session 2

Wed 10/223:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

Oct

Optional: Impact Career Office Hours

Thu 10/234:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

Optional

Venturing Out. Build a Network for Good - Week 3

2 items

Week 3

Oct 27—Nov 2

Oct

Session 3

Wed 10/293:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

Peak. It's the journey not the destination Week 4

3 items

Week 4

Nov 3—Nov 7

Nov

Session 4

Wed 11/54:00 PM—6:00 PM (UTC)

Nov

Optional: Optional Impact Office Hours

Thu 11/65:00 PM—6:00 PM (UTC)

Optional

Post-course

Nov

Optional: Impact Career Office Hours

Thu 11/135:00 PM—6:00 PM (UTC)

Optional

What students are saying

Meet your instructor

Craig Zelizer, PhD

Changemaker, Angel Investor, Professor, Founder with 30+ Years Experience in the Social Impact Sector

Dr. Craig Zelizer is the Founder of http://PCDN.global, which connects a global community of changemakers to the tools, opportunities and inspiration to build careers of impact and scale change.

He has strong tri-sectoral experience in social entrepreneurship, higher education and the nonprofit sector.

A central focus of his career has been how to support others in landing careers that help change the world while helping professionals make a living. He has published and conducted original research on impact careers in academic journals, book chapters, and for clients such as the United States Institute of Peace. He has edited/coedited two books. He is currently finishing a consultancy on AI and Peacebuilding as a consulting scientist for the International Panel on the Information Environment.. He also has facilitated courses on AI Governance for bluedot and AI Safety for ENAIS.

He has supported thousands of students and professionals around the world in advancing impact careers.

He has coached over 300 social impact professionals to help them upskill, land their next career opp and for many explore their relationship to money.

He is a serial fellowship holder including receiving a Fulbright Junior Fellowship (two years in Hungary), Boren Fellowship (in Bosnia-Herzegovina), a tuition fellowship to attend Central European University, a former Boehm Media Fellow at Opportunity Collaboration and he/PCDN received the Luxbembourg Peace Prize for best Platform in 2018.

He regularly reviews fellowship applications for many leading programs and has mentored hundreds in landing impact fellowships.

From 2006 to 2016 he served as a professor in the Conflict Resolution program at Georgetown University (where he still serves as an Adjunct Faculty teaching on impact careers). He is also an occasional adjunct faculty at the American University of Paris.

He has led trainings, workshops and consultancies in over 25 countries organizations including with USAID, Rotary International, Partners Global, University for Peace, University of San Diego, Rotary International and others.

Craig is a recognized leader in the social sector field. He has received several awards including George Mason’s School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution’s alumni of the year award and an alumni career achievement award from Central European University.

Dr. Zelizer spent two years in Hungary as Fulbright Scholar and was a Boren Fellow in Bosnia.

Irex

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