Pros
- Decent pay for nonprofit work - Great benefits after a few years of service (especially retirement) - Panda Fridays/condensed work schedule is nice in theory - Well-resourced NGO, meaning you have a bit more "structure" than other places - It does seem like a lot of people stick around and are able to move up in their careers, though not always
Cons
- Has a distinctly "corporate" vibe to it. Despite hearing in my interview that people feel like they can bring their "full selves" to work, that's not been my experience. I've felt it has a "fake it 'till you make it" vibe, which many may find exhausting and antithetical to what working for an NGO should actually look like - while you'll likely hear a lot about "great" work-life balance in your interview, that's not been my experience. I consistently put in more than 40 hours a week, feel that I'm tacitly expected to check email nights and weekends, and have been tacitly required to work overtime even when it's inconvenient or bad for my health. Many people seem to work through their lunch breaks and there's often little time for rest between the many calls you'll be participating in - the on-boarding process is incredibly stressful. I'm not talking about "how to use IT" type stuff. I'm talking your substantive work and the onboarding you receive in your department. My experience has been terrible. Just getting thrown right into serious job responsibilities after only a couple weeks on the job without much guidance. Your senior leaders are so stretched that you're unlikely to get much of their time or guidance. You may also be working on teams with other new hires who don't know what they're doing and have similarly been thrown into their work with little guidance. Regardless, you are expected to deliver and will receive negative feedback when you don't, despite the lack of guidance and input. - I find the overall meetings culture at this organization to be very aggressive and somewhat ableist. People who do not know how to regulate their emotions taking out their frustrations on other people. People talking over each other and shutting people's ideas and questions down. People just expecting you to "roll with the punches" as if this is normal behavior. Very much favoring extroverts, especially men - Top-heavy management style with lots of tip toeing around diva leadership at times - While Panda Fridays seem nice when you're interviewing, the reality is that many people still end up doing some work on those days, if not most of them - Same goes for vacation. Seems to be normalized that you will check your email on vacation - Due to the fact that a lot of people have been with the organization for 10+ years, it can feel pretty cliquish as a new hire