Jobs for Change is a career service and jobs marketplace that aims to help people find and develop a career they love in social change (which for them means nonprofit, government, and social enterprise jobs). To do this, they’ve hired a team of career advisors who will each be writing a daily blog to provide advice and guidance to a different demographic of job seekers – from College Students to Sector Switchers. You can also ask the team of advisors any question you’d like and get a public response, sort of like Yahoo Answers but powered by experts.

We are currently building the largest database of nonprofit, government, and social enterprise jobs on the web and have just hired a team of career advisors to provide daily advice and guidance to help people of all backgrounds find and develop a career in social change. We have also partnered with more than a dozen leading organizations that will give Jobs for Change reach to millions of people interested in deeper civic engagement.

I am curious how Idealist and Social Actions play into this since they are the most frequently visited/used sites by myself and others I know to find both jobs, volunteer opportunities and more in the social benefit sector.  I’m also excited to see how the advice and question/answer content develops.  After the site is post this initial launch, it’ll be nice to relegate some of the home page to valuable content, too (and not just logos of partners).

What do you think?

• Have you tried it out – what do you think?
• Do you use Idealist.org or SocialActions.com already?  Do you think you’ll switch?
• Are you an organization with job openings – will you list your opening on Jobs for Change?
• Do you go anywhere else online to get career advice?

Click here to see social media + social change jobs!

• Autism
• Education
• Global Health
• Health Care
• Human Trafficking
• Poverty in America
• Sustainable Food

This brings the total number of cause areas featured in Change.org up to 19!  I’m really excited about the new additions but am most excited about Change.org’s realignment process which started last summer and is continuing to take shape.

Change.org integrated all nonprofit pages and actions into affiliated cause areas so that investigating an area of interest to you is much easier, and taking actions to support the cause (whether that’s supporting an organization working in the field, pledging to make a change or take action, or donating money or time) are available to you when you visit your cause area to read news, and so on.  I think it helps empower individuals to get more involved in a meaningful way (instead of leaving the site because there are too many other things going on, they can zoom in on the one area they are interested in).

How do you use Change.org?  What do you think of the platform, the cause areas, or the actions?  How would you change it or which cause areas would you add next?

Change.org has just relaunched its website – an online hub and media network for social issues and collective action.

The new version of the site focuses on the question: what can I do? “If I want to end homelessness, what can I do? If I support gay rights, what can I do?”

The Answer

In Josh Levy’s words (Josh is the new Managing Editor):

To make the answer to this urgent question clearer than ever, we’ve left behind the social networking model of engagement and headed straight for the land of the blogs. Our idea was simple: while the old version of the site was good at helping people connect to each other, it didn’t do enough to help them get meaningfully involved in the issues they cared about. The experience was too fleeting, and too shallow.

How Change Works

There are over a dozen different issue portals ranging from homelessness to genocide to global warming. Each portal has its own issue-focused blog prividing editorial and news content around the issue or issues you care most about. That news is coming from the portal’s dedicated editor who is blogging “throughout the day, reacting to the news, profiling people and organizations, and highlighting concrete actions you can take.”

If you’ve used Change.org in the past, you are probably wondering how things are different and where all the actions have gone. Not to worry! They are all still there, just organized into the portals they relate to. Actions are now connected to the related issue area; you can see all cause areas here.

Nonprofit organizations are still a major part of Change.org, too. Like actions, nonprofits are now affilitated with the cause area that reflects their focus and mission. This will help individuals find nonprofits to support and connect nonprofits to actions and stories in the same cause. You can see all nonprofits here.

And, they’re hiring!

In order to continue expanding the cause portals for the site, Change.org is hiring dedicated editors to manage the issue blog and activity. To learn more about the causes of focus and how to apply, click here.

Each blogger will lead an online community focusing on a different social, political, or environmental issue, maintain a daily blog covering news and offering commentary, convene leading nonprofits and activists working on the issue, and help people translate their interests and passions into concrete action.

Change.org’s blog network will include communities around the following issues:

Global Warming
Human Rights
Universal Health Care
Public Education
Homelessness
Peace in the Middle East
Microfinance
Disaster Relief
Racism
Gay Rights

Human Trafficking
Global Health
Darfur
Women’s Rights
War in Iraq
Global Hunger
Autism
Promoting Democracy
Immigrant Rights
Fair Trade

Poverty
Prison Reform
Humanitarian Relief
Animal Rights
Cure Cancer
Domestic Abuse
Mental Health
Rights of the Disabled
Sustainable Agriculture
…and more to come…

If you are interested, visit http://www.change.org/bloggers for additional details and how to apply.

I was recently honored as Change.org’s social changemaker of the week and am excited to watch, advise, and help with this growing network keeping people around the world connected, informed, and engaged in the major social issues around us. This is a great opportunity to get involved in cultivating a community around a topic that you are passionate about and helping form a larger network of activism and education.

These networks are built to include many of the features nonprofits want, including: pages for fundraising, news, events and project updates, fundraising widgets, posting photos and videos, blogs, forums, and even Facebook integration (if the Facebook application of Change.org is added).

Organizations like CARE, Greenpeace, Amnesty International, and Humane Society of the United States have already established their networks in Change.org. As you can see by looking at one of these organization’s profiles, supporting the group by joining, spreading the word, or donating funds is visible and easy. Nonprofits can redesign the pages to fit with their existing logo, colors, branding, and website.

I really like that Change.org is evolving from a place where individuals can connect on issues, causes, and politics into an even more engaged user base directly involved with nonprofits in a more meaningful way. What do you think?

Does your organization have a network on Change.org? You can sign up here.