Career Preparation Class: Looking at the Perks and Tips of Working at NGO

Yogyakarta, October 29th 2020—Career Preparation Class by Career Development Center (CDC) Fisipol UGM, together with Paramesti Putri and Rosvita Walanda Sitorus from the NGO Save The Children (28/10). Save The Children is a non profit and non government organization which concerns in helping the Indonesian children for accessing basic needs, such as health and education.

Non Government Organization can be a choice for people who interested in humanity issues. Other than the big chance to develop and networking, an experience of working in the NGO could be a meaningful experience for ourselves and the society.

“NGOs exist because there are many humanity issues in our society, such as hunger, limitations of health and sanitation access, and the low literacy skills,” Putri said, as the HR lf Save The Children.

For her, by joining an NGO, it gives us a chance to always learn and develop our soft skills, have a new experience, and network with colleagues from other countries. Especially in Save The Children, the organization always tries to have the work-life balance and creates a comfortable working ecosystem for the workers. Other than that, Save The Children also gives a diversity vibes by letting us to work with other people from various backgrounds.

That statement was agreed by Rosvita as the Safeguarding of Save The Children which had worked at the profit organization. Before joining Save The Children, Rosvita worked in a mining company in Kalimantan and it made her anxious because it gave disadvantages for the people. After getting her master degree from the Department of International Relations of UGM and had an experience of researching, she admitted that she had an interest in working in the NGO.

She also added that working in an NGO made her job not only for herself, but it also gave advantages for the people.

“If we were tired from work and saw that our work gave advantages for the people, it makes us happy,” Rosvita said. This became one of her choices to work in an NGO.

Rosvita advised that for the students who were interested in joining with the NGO to try volunteering or internship to know how the world of NGO works. Besides that, the students join a community to conduct a research in society, or try to join a local NGO with a big scope.

Several skills are needed in NGO such as communication, teamwork, empathy, emotional resilience, creativity, and analysis skill. Rosvita also gave tips and tricks so that the students can show their skills off to the recruiters.

Save The Children also opens a volunteer program for everyone from every educational backgrounds and internship program for last year students. Several documents are needed for internship program such as motivation letter in English, curriculum vitae, and cover letter from the campus.