Diary of a Rural Manager!

Preparing for interviews isn’t about memorizing answers—it’s about clarity of thought and structured reflection. I’ve curated 45 high-impact interview questions, clearly split into must-prepare and situational, along with crisp frameworks to respond with confidence. MUST-PREPARE (You should have polished, confident answers) Tell me about yourself What are your strengths? What is your weakness? Why should we hire you? Why do you want this role? Where do you see yourself in five years? Why are you leaving your current or previous job? Why have you changed jobs multiple times? What do you know about our organization? How do you measure success or impact in your work? Describe a major challenge or toughest decision you’ve faced Tell me about a time you failed or missed a deadline Can you handle high-pressure situations? How do you prioritize tasks? Describe your work style What does leadership mean to you? How do you balance speed vs quality in execution? What would you do in your first 90...

Mr Nishant Chavan has originally shared the list of websites for employment in the Development Sector. I had added few in the list. This list gives access to job portals that would lead to a better employment scenario and less search time for exploring job opportunities. 1. Database for NGOs / Development / Social Impact Sector 2. http://www.ngobox.org/joblisting.php 3. http://www.nextbillion.net/jobsfeed.aspx 4.  http://www.globalcharityjobs.com/Jobs_board 5. http://www.idealist.org/search/v2/?search_type=job  6. http://jobs.thegiin.org/jobs 7. http://www.iimjobs.com/k/ngo-jobs-133.html 8.  http://www.jobisjob.co.in/mumbai/ngo/jobs 9. http://www.jobsforgood.com/jobs.html 10. https://www.indeed.co.in/jobs?q=NGO&l=India 11.  http://www.careesma.in/jobs?q=ngo&lc=India 12.  http://www.devnetjobsindia.org 13. http://www.indevjobs.org/ 14. http://www.karmany.org/jobs 15. https://www.devex.com/en/jobs 16. http://www.thebetter...

There’s a new group of youths who are restless and constantly looking for challenging work in Non profit sector. So how can a candidate look for organizations that can utilize their skills for its benefit? I am sharing an updated list of top job sites by field and region. This post will be useful for aspiring candidates looking for a job in Non Profit, development, or humanitarian work. Charityjob (UK) Idealist (General + Global) Impact Pool (General + Global) ICT4DJobs (tech + Development) SID-W (Development) Humentum (Development) Devex (Development) GlobalJobs (Development) UNJobs (Development + Humanitarian) ReliefWeb (Humanitarian Assistance) ALNAP (Humanitarian) PCDN (Social Impact ) NGOJobBoard (US Nonprofit) NationalNonprofits (US nonprofit) NTEN (Nonprofit + Tech) RezScore (Nonprofit) Commongood (US Nonprofit) Chronicle of Philanthropy (Nonprofit) BOND (Europe) Eurojobs (Europe)  Third Sector Jobs (UK) CharityVillage (Canada ) Ethical Jobs (Austral...

Update 2026: The Database is updated and free to access.   Revised: Firms for Development Sector Professional  Information itself is big business, after all this is the age of big data. I had written before on the topic in  Job Search in Rural Management Domain . Due to the limited access to information and networks, youths from Tier 2 and 3 areas struggle to get good jobs in the development sector. Youths didn't know even the names of the organizations working in the ecosystem. It is best to choose target employers where one would like to work and focus your efforts on those jobs and employers while searching for jobs. This database is delivered as solutions to bridge recruitment gaps and tap non-profits, social enterprises, and other mission-driven organizations. With over INR 50,000 Crore was spent in 4 years alone in the CSR sector and huge public welfare implementation done by Government, there is an immense chance for jobs in diverse roles. I have a small exper...

New sources of funding, new actors and new technologies are quickly changing the landscape of the sector. Currently, not for profit sector is transitioning their operating and/or business models. For transitions to happen successfully, they must look at the historic perspective of why their enterprise is developed in the way that it did and at the same time look at the anticipated future trends. To go through the evolutionary change, there is need of a design thinking for analysis. Business Model Canvas is the ultimate framework for this purpose. Business Model Canvas represents a business model or business case with nine simple building blocks, including customer segments, channels, and relationships; value proposition, key activities, resources and partners; cost structure and revenue streams. The canvas therefore combines the financial viability of a solution with its usability and feasibility. This tool helps the manager to focus on what’s driving the business and value delive...

Incentives, capacities, norms and professional identities of the organization are the reasons behind success or failing in branding. Brand name is also created mostly by network of ex-employees, partners and vendors. Hence, managing human capital and relationship becomes key in creating brand value. There comes the massive role of HR Manager in the mapping the environment to identify : Unique Employee Allegiance Proposition & Distinctive Competitive Advantage. Why people switch organization? The answer to the question is same for each sector & development sector is no anomaly. Most Companies/NGOs have tendency to neither invest in the people nor provide mentors for the career guidance. This led to migration of the talented people who have quality of leadership. The mutual trust deficit leads to an organization which will be optimized to hire and keep people who merely want the next job. When organization sees people as true assets,they empower them with knowledge. I always ...

Do you know that only about 10 per cent of the over 22 lakh NGOs file their annual income and expenditure statements with the authorities ? As per given Source - A total of Rs 13,051 crore foreign contribution was received by 17,616 NGOs in the country in 2013-14, Rs 11,527 crore by 20,497 NGOs in 2012-2013 and Rs 11,558 crore by 22,747 NGOs in 2011-2012. Also quoting another Source - The main change is that all NGOs will have to make public each foreign contribution received by them within a week of the receipt, on their official website or a website prescribed by the government. Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) is a regulatory tool that enables monitoring and control of foreign funding. It will be better to know about  pros and cons of this tool  before going in this debate. PMO has initiated exercise to tighten monitoring over NGOs in the country. Intelligence Bureau has given inputs to "improve oversight and increase transparency" in the working of the volu...

Livelihoods Asia Summit 2015 was being held on December 10 and 11 in New Delhi, India. The Summit sessions were on topics like skill development, impacts of climate change on livelihoods, inclusive value chains, policy innovations, and private sector partnerships, among the approaches that offer a pathway out of poverty. The summit has more than a hundred delegates working as  sector specialists,  practitioners, and advocates in the livelihood sector. Panel sessions and other live events are great — especially the Q&A &, which ranges from absurd to tricky. There was a focus on policies, programs, private players, and potential in the poor during the sessions. There was emphasis by panelists to think of poverty as a dynamic and multidimensional phenomenon. There were numerous policy-level talks on SHG and FPO, but the dialogues on the next generation of institutions were lacking at the summit. The summit also ignored rights-based approaches to livelihood develo...

ACCESS has hosted the Inclusive Finance India Summit from December 8th to 9th, 2015 at in New Delhi, India. The summit has gained recognition and the Inclusive Finance India Report has been quoted extensively in the Malegam Committee , and working report for the Microfinance Bill. The Summit has facilitated discourse on issues like-policy environment, data analytics in financial inclusion, mobile wallets, BC model, customer protection, impact of JAM, and innovations in the sector. I attended the summit as the delegate of ACCESS team. The Summit began with release of the Sector report 2015 was followed by several sessions on microfinance and financial inclusion in the country. The buzz of the sessions were around Mudra bank , Payment banks, cash less economy and Small Finance Banks. Eight out of 10 Small Finance Banks which have been given in-principle nod by RBI are microfinance institution (MFIs).  Sector experts are hopeful that Small Finance Banks  fill the "missing midd...

A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes Once, a gentleman gave me incredible insight into the development sector where NGOs follow a simple rule --- "Piss Less, Spread More". This appeared cynical to some extent and sounds profane at first. But people had longer careers talking about development than doing it. Shows which is easier!   This conversation caused me to look at life from a whole new perspective in the development sector. NGOs are currently less concerned with the quality of work and strive for a better communication strategy for social media, donors & other players. The brand image of NGOs is based on goodwill and less on the actual impact of their work. The unfortunate irony is that all too often, rhetoric and symbolism replace logic and action in the hallowed portals of the NGO conferences. Let us never forget that not all NGOs have necessarily been formed for altruistic reasons!

The heading of the article doesn't seems to confuse reader who are working in development sector. Its a fancy word on the training of field staff. The major component of any development project is institutional and human capacity development in the community. Training the larger development community to more effectively support community-driven efforts requires a field staff with local networking, trust and suitable skills. There are six factors to be considered while managing field staff in the development project. 1. Recruitment of LRPs - In this phase, mostly NGOs go either for references or prefer an experienced candidate. The most preferable candidate is not the most smart one from the community. Honesty, non political nature, perception in public and hard work are the traits to be seen in the recruitment phase. With some expectations the leadership is concentrated in the hands of elderly people. The style of functioning of these elderly people exhibits authoritarianism...

In every field of endeavor, the one who reaches the pinnacle will be found to have built upon the knowledge and experience of someone who preceded him. People in development sector feel obliged to submit report to donor organization with complete focus on grants. There are suggestions from the expensive government project reports that end up just gathering dust on a shelf in India. Thousands, of reports on policy, poverty and development issues are released each year worldwide. A lot of recommendations, solutions and findings are kept on piling in a PDF version. The citation of paper doesn't imply that it has been read. Even the reader looked only at downloads and citations to gauge the use of these reports. The key question that comes in mind: Who will ever read them? Even world bank is pondering over this question ( Which World Bank reports are widely read ? ) Recent findings suggest my fears: The researchers contribute to their discipline's knowledge with the deep op...

Salary is one of the most critical components of a human resources strategy even in development sector. It is unreal, and perhaps even unfair, to expect that a development professional is going to do good to society at a loss to himself. This path has produced few rare exceptional people, but its not a sustainable way of growth. I think job anywhere is very simple; to work with the best of our ability, and inspire younger generation to excel given standards. Compensation, Experience , Commitment and Skill set creates the Job Profile. But there is always huge gap between supply and demand in development sector. The reason is below:

Let me start with a joke: I have a MBA degree and wanna be consultant in future! Does any development organization need consultant ? Yes, they do. Analyst and Consultant form a core area of jobs created in the knowledge economy. Whereas a leader can win people over in an instant due to oration and vision, an analyst can do same with the technical wizardry. But the most over-hyped and over-mocked job belongs to consultant.  Consultants are not brought on to be unbiased. They are hired to confirm a particular bias. There is a popular one line gag on consultant - "If you are not a part of the solution, there's good money to be made in prolonging the problem." There is always a lot of conferences and consultations on ‘labour rights’ that continue to be held at five star hotels — which for one are known to underpay their employees — without a hint of irony. It may seem wrong, pragmatic, or indecisive and confused? Take your pick. A consultant must focus on collecting data and...

It's fine to have people working in development sector with degrees from the elite colleges. But even if they are good at statistics and analysis, they cannot be decision-makers without a grassroots experience. Problem with today’s education is that it doesn't have any relationship to the real world. Images get reinforced over time with newspaper, media and cinema. Innocent Villagers, Shrewd Businessmen, Corrupt bureaucracy and Selfish Political leaders become stereotype. Such perception breaks with each intersection and performance in the field. Living in the village with no other business but to follow native life in the present day of social media buzz and 24*7 connectivity seems bizarre. But one sees the traditions, ceremonies and transactions over and over again. What it leaves one with temporary chaos in the beginning. In addition to fostering mutual understanding, perpetually curiosity and occasionally confused volunteer start to see the way of living of a community....

The word “training” is a cliched jargon used in the corporates. There is another buzz word used for this in the development sector. That word is termed as "Capacity Building" (CB) and it is an endless process. Development professionals and government believe that we have this new knowledge, and we need to teach communities how to do stuff. I have seen such special sessions focused on  inauguration, speech and a boring lecture where participants are waiting for the lunch. Most of the times, workshop had limited interaction and few important questions raised regarding project. The worse use of "CB" word doesn't stop there. It has extended into "empowerment" for poor or "sensitization" for educated government officials. Makarand Sahasrabuddhe  has aptly said: “Many a time capacity building is just a euphemism for cramming 30 people in a room for a few days and trying to kill them with power-points and flipcharts and group work (that also takes...