Tourism industry veteran leaps to international microfinance

Robin Ratcliffe had reached a career impasse. Searching for more meaningful work, Ratcliffe - a veteran of advertising, public relations, events management and operations in Latin America’s tourism industry - took six months off in 1996 to reevaluate her options. She dedicated herself to networking, and eventually learned of a new communications and outreach strategy being implemented at Accion International. The following year, Ratcliffe applied for the post of vice president for communication at Accion and was selected through a nationwide search. Twelve years later, Ratcliffe continues to work with Accion in its new Center for Financial Inclusion. As director of the center’s Campaign for Client Protection in Microfinance, Ratcliffe facilitates public-private gatherings with the aim of advancing the business and social goals of private-sector and microfinance institutions. In September 2009, Ratcliffe helped organize the Encuentro Centroamericano de Microfinanzas in San Salvador, El Salvador. The event brought together nonprofit, governmental and corporate stakeholders to discuss microfinance in Central America, particularly the industry’s reaction to the global financial crisis. Devex spoke with Ratcliffe at the meeting about her unusual transition from the international tourism industry to a nonprofit organization working in international microfinance. She also provided advice for professionals seeking to enter the competitive microfinance sector today. You made an interesting transition from the tourism industry to international nonprofit work. How did that happen? In 1996, I really kind of hit a wall and thought I really would want to do something different, and want to do something using my skills but want to feel like I am contributing to making a difference. I took a six-month sabbatical, self-financed. It’s pretty interesting to me [now]: Always pay attention to who you meet. I had been working in tourism in Bolivia in 1992, and through a crazy set of circumstances, I was introduced to Bill Burris, who was the director of Accion at the time and was in Bolivia for the opening of BancoSol. At that time, Accion was quite small. [After meeting him] I became a donor; I probably donated a few hundred dollars a year. Over the years, we occasionally kept in touch. When I started looking for a new career, Bill Burris was one of the first people I called. He was very gracious; he remembered me. He said that the [Accion] board has just approved this strategic overview, that we need to improve our communications. They did do a national search. I applied for the job, was asked to interview, and called back for a second interview. It really opened my eyes to the power of networking - really staying in touch with interesting people that you meet doing interesting things. I would never have known about that job if I didn’t call him. I didn’t call him to say, “What’s going on in Accion?” I called him because he had a lot of knowledge about a region I was working in or living in. Some people are never going to respond, or whatever. It took a lot of courage. I asked him what my chances as a North American woman with decent but not perfect Spanish would be for a job in Latin America. Coming from a fairly different background, what do you think made you competitive for the position? Having already worked internationally, having language skills, having dealt with clients in different countries and having worked successfully with them. I’m pretty open and easy to talk to. I had a strong background in branding and even strong background in PR and publicity. It’s actually more attractive [to nonprofits] to have a business background. That was just the beginning [of the more businesslike trend] with larger and medium-sized nonprofits. The [organization’s] image and collateral material began to be important. All this was beginning to happen. When I first started talking about branding, they practically fired me! Now everyone in Accion is aware that we have a brand, and that we have brand equity, and that we need to protect our brand. The good nonprofits were finding in 1997 and 1998 that they needed to operate with a businesslike mentality. You’re doing some of the hiring now at Accion. What advice would you have to those looking for jobs in this sector and at Accion in particular? I am amazed by how many letters of interest, cover letters, I get with grammatical errors. [Other] letters have nothing to do with job availability or the particular role or Accion! You can tell sometimes with an applicant that they haven’t looked at the Web site. You really need to know something about who you are applying to. Really be thoughtful about any experience you have that fits. I think a resume doesn’t tell me the personality of the person; I think a cover letter is huge. I think a better cover letter is one that looks at a job and tells me what you’ve already done - even if it’s in university and you organized some student events. If I am looking for an event coordinator and you tell me in your cover letter, it needs to be something different and tell me that you’ve looked at the job description and thought about what you’ve already done, and why you’d be a good fit, or what you’ve done in your experience that would make you be good at that job. What about interview advice? Be honest in interviews about not having done something, but say, “I have this skill and this skill that makes me think I can do it.” I want you to tell me that you’ve looked at that job description and thought about it. What happens with Accion - because it’s such a great place to work, and the mission is so compelling - we get a lot of people that will apply for every single job because they just want to be there. Another tip where you can’t go wrong - I am amazed how many people see my name and write “Dear Robin” - you cannot go wrong saying mister or missus. You can’t go wrong by doing that. You can go wrong the other way [by being too informal]. It’s still fine to dress the part a bit [formally]. That shows the respect, too. What it tells me as a more senior executive is that you have respect for me and the organization. It’s just sort of an approach that bodes well for how you might be as an employee. As an interviewer, you have a pretty good sense of the fit pretty early on in the interview. I have definitely hired people with fewer technical skills that have a better personality fit. It’s sure hard if somebody can’t make eye contact. There are a lot of people that will talk with you for quite some time without making eye contact. Send a thank you note - I’m sorry, it still works! E-mail is OK, but somebody who sends an e-mail and three days later sends a note in the mail, it doesn’t hurt. Read more microfinance career advice: - How to Become a ‘Banker to the Poor’ - A Business School Focuses on the Poor - Microfinance Jobs for Beginners - Microfinance Careers at FINCA International - Kiva Fellows Connect Online Lenders with Borrowers Read more career advice articles.