An increasing number of recent graduates are now seeking out public service jobs, or working for nonprofits and associations.

Several years ago, before the financial crisis, college students looking forward to their impending graduation might have begun their search for employment looking for corporate jobs in the financial sector or other major businesses. But things have changed. Many news sources—the New York Times among them—have noted that an increasing number of recent graduates are now seeking out public service jobs, or working for nonprofits and associations. In fact, in 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau found that 11 percent more college graduates went to work for nonprofits.

“It’s not uncommon for me to hear of over 100 applications for a nonprofit position, sometimes many more than that, and many more Ivy League college graduates applying than before,” said Diana Aviv, chief executive of Independent Sector, told the news source. “Some of these people haven’t been employed for a while and are happy to have something. But once they’re there, they’ve recalibrated and reoriented themselves toward public service.”

Of course, one might expect that young graduates are more suited to these jobs than their older peers. Since they generally do not have families or major financial obligations apart from student loan debt, they can accept lower salaries for what often turns into extremely varied, busy work. Luckily, young graduates also tend to bring on board impressive reserves of energy for projects that they feel passionate about.

That is all good for the nonprofits in question, but they do have one problem to contend with—namely, young graduates’ lack of experience in specific areas like strategy, governance and volunteer recruiting. Not that this is a reason to turn enthusiastic grads away. Instead, nonprofits should do their best to invest in more training for these issues.

An increasing number of recent graduates are now seeking out public service jobs, or working for nonprofits and associations.