The first thing my dad asked me when I told him I was going to serve a second AmeriCorps year was, “Do you have enough dried beans?”
AmeriCorps service is an incredibly rewarding and life-changing experience, but it is also notorious for long hours and low pay. I won’t tell you how much I earned last year, but I will tell you that I qualified for food stamps. I signed up to complete a second year of service, not because I love living below the poverty line, but because I love the work I do.
I have had the rare and fortunate opportunity to be a part of the growing AmeriCorps National Service Movement. There are thousands of young people (and Seniors!) all over the country that are serving, and I am so lucky to be one of them. I get to work collaboratively with folks that share my passion for community service. I get to serve youth and empower them to become leaders. I get to learn crazy non-profit ninja skills like networking, program development, project management and utilizing volunteer databases. I get to meet and be inspired by amazing people all the time.
We’re about halfway through this service year, and I have no idea what I am going to do next. Should I go back to school? Is it ok if I don’t go to grad school right away? Should I try to find a job? Will I be able to find a job? All of these fears have been compounded by the reality that I can’t afford to serve a third year, even if I wanted to. Luckily for me, one of my Corps members, Krystal Hope, has got my back. She is also serving a second service year, and spent a great deal of her time this fall organizing a job-readiness, professional development “Skill Share Speed Dating” event for her fellow Corps Members. In this event, small groups of Ambassadors rotated through 4 different skill shares which included of tips and advice from non-profit professionals.
We all participated in this skill share last Friday during our monthly Corps meeting. She gathered together non-profit professionals from the Greater Boston area that have made the transition from college and/or AmeriCorps into careers that serve the community in various ways to speak to us about their experiences in getting hired and hiring others. I had the opportunity to have some great one-on-one conversations and ask questions that have helped me to really think about what my next career steps should be.
In speaking with Mathew English, Director of Nonprofit Relations for a social media platform AltrUHelp, I learned great tips for being interviewed, such as mirroring the body language of the person interviewing you and the benefits of communicating with potential employers in ways that show your propensity for growth and flexibility. Michael Omenazu, former corps member and current recruiter with the Boston Teacher Residency, emphasized the importance of communicating your passion and commitment as a way to stand out to potential employers. Kristen Wright, Development Manager at Youth Villages, assured us that the most in-demand job skills are those that cannot be learned in school alone, like the ability to work well with lots of different kinds of people, and the ability to solve problems creatively. Kevin Flynn, nonprofit recruiter at CommonGood Careers relieved some of my biggest fears when he said that most nonprofits are looking for people with real-world job experience over advanced degrees, and that 70% of nonprofit jobs are never posted. He then gave me some great tips on how to find those un-posted jobs.
This skill share assured me that there are employers looking to hire folks like me, people with a passion for making change happen, people with the desire to constantly learn and grow, and people that enjoy the challenge and rewards of working collaboratively. I don’t feel as anxious about my decision to hold off on grad school for now. I now know that the skills I’ve learned as a Corps member will really be an asset when I finally do have to move on to the next stage in my career. I don’t know exactly what my next step will be, but I know that I am prepared to take it.
Sounds like an excellent event - lots of great ways to put valuable AmeriCorps skills into practice!
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