Pros
Year Up hires alumni who have graduated from the program. We are given the opportunity to work with some amazing young adults and help them gain jobs with some really amazing companies. Benefits are amazing.
Cons
Executive Directors are brought in because they understand and speak the language of the market of leaders we are trying to enter into their companies. However many of them have and show a complete disrespect for Year Up core values for example, not wanting to accept feedback or not adhere to the dress that we have for students. Year Up has even taking a step to try to make those leaders be more comfortable with feedback by choosing to make an additional set of feedback guidelines. Many staff also don't always support the students as they should be. These young adults are joining this program to learn and many of the experiences they have in the program are new to them. Staff make comments that students shouldn't questions they things they do because "they have jobs and earn a paycheck verses a stipend", that is completely unacceptable and inappropriate. Gerald wants alumni to one day run Year Up including being the CEO. However the reality of this dream will never happen because everyone does not share his same thoughts and feelings. Year Up alumni are often stuck in coordinator and specialist level roles with a few that are in the manager band. Alumni are often given feedback that while they do a good job in their work, the ratings received in their annual reviews do not match what is being told to them or in some cases not told. It's extremely hard to grow in Year Up because the feedback that is often presented in interviews is that you are great but we will go with another candidate that has more experience. Who would have more experience at being a Program Manager than someone who has lived out the student contract. When people raise concerns to the national office the complaints fall upon deaf ears. The organization is extremely reactive when it comes to being forward thinking about growth. We talk about how we want to serve 10,000 per year in 2021 but so many sites have completely outgrown their site spaces and we rush to make hires for new positions instead of taking the time to ensure that people are really good culture fit to work here. They pay is okay but considering Year Up sites are in the metropolitan areas of most states there are some markets that get paid much more than others. If you want more money go live in New York. We say that we are invested in diversity and wellness as an organization however, we treat these items as if they are yesterday's trash because the senior leaders only care about data and numbers instead of the voice of the people is screaming to them. Year Up Senior Leadership team does not reflect the population of students we serve. Year Up doesn't practice what we preach to our corporate partners. It took years before we have finally removed the degree requirement from most of our job descriptions.