Wednesday, April 22, 9:00am-12:00pm Eastern Time
Interview scheduling will begin promptly at 9:00am
Location: Zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89354769305?from=addon)
CANDIDATE GUIDE
This is your one-stop resource to guide you through Business Volunteers’ boardCONNECT experience. You will learn how to prepare for the event, navigate the event itself, and ultimately find a match in your board service journey. Please read everything carefully and scroll down.
REGISTER FOR THE EVENT
If you haven’t already, click here to complete your board candidate registration. Failure to complete this step may result in you being turned away from the event!
Once you have submitted your boardCONNECT registration form and received the email confirmation, you can proceed by reviewing the rest of this page.
REQUIRED STEPS BEFORE THE EVENT
REQUIRED STEPS DURING THE EVENT
Questions? Check the FAQs section or email boardleadership@businessvolunteersmd.org!
BEFORE THE EVENT
REVIEW EVENT INFORMATION
boardCONNECT brings together community-minded professionals seeking to join nonprofit boards with a diverse range of nonprofit organizations seeking board members. In this round robin-styled event, professionals and nonprofits engage in brief conversations, rotating throughout the event. The goal is to find matches in which a nonprofit and a professional express mutual interest and want to continue the conversation.
Important Notes
- Nonprofits in attendance will cover a variety of missions and focus areas. Nonprofits will be listed below once they have been selected!
- At the beginning of the event, you (the candidate) will schedule interviews with the nonprofits that resonate with you most. You may schedule a maximum of eight interviews (Note that you will NOT be able to meet with them all).
- A “mutual match” from this event occurs when both you and a nonprofit you met with say “YES” to continuing your conversation after the event.
- The only commitment required from you and any nonprofit you are “mutually matched” with is that you have an additional meeting to continue exploring the opportunity. Further conversations will determine if you are ultimately elected onto the nonprofit’s board.
- Each nonprofit has their own interview process and procedures, which can take various forms and periods of time.
- There are no guarantees you will be successfully matched with an organization or ultimately receive a formal board position.
PARTICIPATING NONPROFITS
The following nonprofits have been accepted to participate in this event. Please click on each tile to learn more about them!
SUBMIT YOUR RANKING FORM
We will guarantee you up to three (3) interviews with nonprofits; however, which nonprofits you speak with is determined on a first-come, first-served basis.
To ensure you speak with the nonprofits that resonate with you most, please complete the Ranking Form below as soon as possible. Business Volunteers will take Ranking Form submissions in the order they were received and pre-schedule candidates for up to three (3) interviews. When you arrive at the event day-of, you will be given the option to schedule for up to five (5) more interviews, pending nonprofit availability.
Please note that it benefits you to rank as many of the nonprofits as you are willing to speak with (we recommend ranking all of them!). If you submit a Ranking Form with only three nonprofits listed, and one of those nonprofits is already fully booked with other interviews, we will only book you for two interviews.
If you have any questions about this ranking/scheduling process, please contact our team at boardleadership@businessvolunteersmd.org.
PREPARE FOR THE EVENT
When: Wednesday, April 22, 9:00am-12:00pm (Scheduling begins promptly at 9:00am!)
Where: Zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89354769305?from=addon)
Event Run of Show
How to Prepare for the Event
- Review the nonprofits and submit your ranking form well before the event. This will help ensure you get to speak with the nonprofits that resonate with you most!
- Plan to arrive ON TIME OR EARLY so you can complete your interview schedule.
- Have THIS GUIDE open when you arrive. You will need the guide materials to navigate the event successfully!
- Be professionally dressed.
- Have a pen and paper ready to take notes. You will want to keep track of which nonprofits resonate with you most.
- HAVE FUN! Enjoy meeting incredible nonprofit leaders in this engaging event. Thank you for participating!
Email boardleadership@businessvolunteersmd.org if you have questions.
DURING THE EVENT
REVIEW YOUR SCHEDULE
Interviews with nonprofits will be scheduled VIRTUALLY ON APRIL 22, 9:00AM ON A FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVE BASIS. Upon your arrival in the Zoom room, you will complete brief form to mark your place in line. Then you will enter a breakout room with one of Business Volunteers’ staff members, who will schedule you according to availability and your completed ranking form.
Please remember that you must submit a ranking form BEFORE you are scheduled, and that scheduling is done on a first-come, first-serve basis. If you have a few nonprofits you especially want to speak to, you should submit your ranking form well in advance AND arrive at or before 9:00am to secure your place in the registration line.
Prior to the event, you will be booked for up to three (3) interviews. Once you sign into the Zoom room, you may book up to five (5) additional interviews, pending availability.
When your ranking form has been processed by Business Volunteers’ staff, your interview schedule will populate in the cards below (Pro tip: refresh your browser if you don’t see anything!) Scroll to find your name and click on your card to view your schedule. You may also use the “Filter” function in the top left corner to find your card more easily.
Interviews last 10 minutes each. If you have a large gap between some of your interviews, you may choose to leave the room (or your computer) for a break. However, you MUST be back in your seat in time for your next interview! The event will not wait for you if you do not return on time.
COMPLETE THE MUTUAL MATCH FORM
- Review the conversation schedule in your guide.
- Answer the following question for each round: Are you interested in continuing a conversation with the nonprofit?
- It is CRITICAL that your decision is aligned to the correct ROUND. Please look at your schedule above and double check your choices and rounds before submitting.
- Make sure to hit SUBMIT at the bottom!
Business Volunteers will review the responses of nonprofits and candidates and share your mutual matches within one week.
FAQs
We should have nonprofits identified and announced at least two weeks before the event. We know you’ll be excited to know which nonprofits are in attendance, so we’ll be sure to notify you as soon as we have more information!
Make sure you have registered for the event, submitted your Ranking Form, AND reviewed all the information under REQUIRED STEPS BEFORE THE EVENT.
Unless there is an emergency (ie, illness), none of the participating nonprofits already listed will change. However, if enough board candidates register for the event, we will admit more nonprofits from our waitlist and update the Participating Nonprofits section accordingly. We will also notify you via email should this occur.
Yes, please! Submit your Ranking Form before the event if at all possible. You will not be able to schedule your interviews until your ranking form is submitted.
Yes, that’s okay! However, when you submit your Ranking Form, please still list as many nonprofits as you are willing to speak with. There are always some very popular nonprofits whose interview slots fill up quickly, so we encourage you to remain open-minded and be willing to interview with others. Also, some of our board matches come from the unexpected conversations when a board candidate speaks with a nonprofit they didn’t feel initially interested in!
If you still have questions, please email boardleadership@businessvolunteersmd.org. Thank you!