CALPIRG Reviews
Updated Oct 3, 2020
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Full-time, Part-time
English
Job Function
- Administrative
- Arts & Design
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- Consulting
- Customer Services & Support
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- Finance & Accounting
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- Human Resources
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- Legal
- Marketing
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- Other
- Product & Project Management
- Research & Science
- Retail & Food Services
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Job Status (2)
- Current Employees
- Full-time
- Part-time
- Freelance
- Intern
- Contract
Location
- Worldwide
- United States - All Cities
- - California
- - Los Angeles, CA Area
- - Riverside, CA Area
- - Sacramento, CA Area
- - San Francisco, CA Area
- - Santa Barbara, CA Area
- - Santa Cruz, CA Area
English
- English
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- German
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- Spanish
- Italian
"A great place to make a difference"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Diversity & Inclusion★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
- Senior Management★★★★★
RecommendsPositive OutlookI have been working at CALPIRG part-time
Pros
Builds a variety of skills; flexible with class schedules
Cons
Unpaid internship (but can get course credit if sponsored by a professor)
"Don’t work here"
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
I have been working at CALPIRG full-time for less than a year
Pros
The pay is decent, 17.25
Cons
Terrible work culture, incredibly high turnover rate, anti union
"shady organization style"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
- Senior Management★★★★★
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDisapproves of CEOI worked at CALPIRG full-time for less than a year
Pros
friendly coworkers who are enthusiastic about the environment
Cons
the organization style is not transparent
"Definitely a learning experience esp. for college students"
I worked at CALPIRG full-time for less than a year
Pros
- Great opportunity to learn people/speaking skills - Fairly easy to advance from canvasser to field manager or director - Teaches you how to be persistent after so many rejections
Cons
- Low pay, no benefits - Some people are extremely rude to canvassers - Emotionally exhausting to seem cheerful to strangers all the time - Having to work outside in the heat/cold/rain/dark often alone
Continue reading"Exploitative but good in a pinch"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
- Senior Management★★★★★
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookNo opinion of CEOI worked at CALPIRG full-time for more than a year
Pros
Easy to get hired, rarely boring
Cons
Hard to make the quota, life depends on manager
Continue reading"Student Canvasser working full time"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
- Senior Management★★★★★
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookNo opinion of CEOI worked at CALPIRG full-time for less than a year
Pros
Learned a lot about face to face and communication skills because the job forces you to go to strangers homes and talk to them. Met a lot of different people and puts you out of your comfort zone by dealing with some hostile people and negative responses.
Cons
Quota system, you get let go if you fail to meet 2 weeks in a row. Definitely tough for people who are a bit more introverted.
"UC Santa Cruz CALPIRG Intern Review"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
- Senior Management★★★★★
RecommendsNeutral OutlookNo opinion of CEOI worked at CALPIRG for more than a year
Pros
Working with CALPIRG provides plenty of hands on communication experience, as well as many chances to improve organization and teamwork skills. The staff is also very friendly and energetic which make them great to work with. Finally, many of the campaigns that CALPIRG organizes are very successful, which provides comfort knowing that the work you put in is actually making a difference.
Cons
While working on many of the different campaigns, you will encounter a fair amount of rejection, whether it be from people who do not want to sign your petition or people who will completely ignore you etc. This part of the work can be quite daunting, however, if you can find a way to get past that, your work can still be rewarding. Also, this is an unpaid internship.
Continue reading- Helpful (1)
"Gained amazing experience, organizers were over zealous (2010)"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
- Senior Management★★★★★
Doesn't RecommendI worked at CALPIRG for less than a year
Pros
I got great experiences to put on my resume. As soon as I showed my competency I was put in charge of everything and anything needed. I went from being recruited to recruiting, training and supervising new interns in a matter of weeks, planning and organizing events, being the spokesperson for our campaign to newspapers, radio, and television, and generally being the organizers right hand (wo)man. These are experiences that just don't happen in a paid position without months or years of work leading up to it.
Cons
The organizers were over zealous and at the end of the campaign I felt taken advantage of. We were running a campaign on a college campus and they would obviously judge volunteers and interns who chose not to volunteer every waking second of their lives. I literally heard a volunteer say they had to cancel their shift because they had a big paper they had to write for class and the organizer responded with the words, "Well, if that's where your priorities are." Those words on their own are benign enough, yet they were said in a way that obviously judged the student for not choosing to volunteer. At the time I devoted myself completely because I thought the cause was just that important, that we were helping to save the world. Afterwords I wondered why I had let my life get so consumed.
Continue reading "Broke and disappointed"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
- Senior Management★★★★★
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookNo opinion of CEOI worked at CALPIRG full-time for less than a year
Pros
Great learning and travel opportunity. You will learn public speaking, writing, storytelling, people skills, outreach and canvassing skills, and become a better activist.
Cons
Overworked and underpaid. They systematically lie to employees saying salary is ~33k (that is with your "bonus" that none of us ever received ). Salary is actually 22k, which is unlivable on in California. Expect to work 60 hours minimum per week, and only get Sundays off. In the summer they will force you to manage a canvass office working even more hours with more stress, away from home. They would be sued except they coerce employees into signing an arbitration agreement upon employment (you don't actually legally have to sign it, they just make you think you do.) Expect 30% or more of the job to be fundraising students for the campus PIRG.
Continue reading- Helpful (1)
"Campus Organizer"
- Work/Life Balance★★★★★
- Culture & Values★★★★★
- Career Opportunities★★★★★
- Compensation and Benefits★★★★★
- Senior Management★★★★★
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookNo opinion of CEOI worked at CALPIRG full-time for more than a year
Pros
Great, temporary, launching pad if you want to get into grassroots organizing.
Cons
Poor labor practices and terrible pay.
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