Year Up Reviews

Cons

With all the positives stated, it is a little challenging to talk about the cons, as there aren't many. I will say that the office space is a little challenging. If you are used to having your own office or office space, get over it. It would be nice to have that intimate space, however, to focus on your work, have confidential meetings and conversations with students, etc. We are a new site so we are still learning and growing together but this also presents natural challenges that we will soon overcome.

Cons

Can be somewhat hierarchical in structure, though it depends on your team.

Cons

low salary, slow promotion, not competitive salary in Bay Area For IT people

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.

Cons

The DC site is in serious decline under the current executive director: staff morale is low, students are unhappy, people seem to leave once they get hired. Does Gerald know what is going on?

Either someone is doing a great job of keeping the sorry state of things from Gerald or he wants to dismantle this site from the inside out. If the latter is true, he's doing a great job.

Cons

Still relatively new to Los Angeles (first class graduates in about a week) so going through the typical start-up and growth pangs. Team is coming together and focused on building name recognition in LA. Outreach and recruitment is always challenging in a new market where our target audience hasn't heard of us before but momentum is building in that regard as well.

Cons

Executive Director and his favorites. Politics. Not able to express true opinions. Listened to the wrong people. Singled out people and then fired people based on opinions of others.

Cons

Leadership is horrible, there are a lot of unethical things happening at this site ( with students and staff). When you complain to the National office nothing happens. It is the worst place to work. This organization should not be on the "Best Non Profits to work for" list. The ED is a horrible leader which is why retention is low. The staff is not happy and aren't treated right. The only reason people stay is to help the young adults.

Cons

So many cons. The pay is slave wage. The teachers, advisers and mentors are kind of useless. So you get set up with an internship but nobody knows what you will do on the internship until you get it. Until then they just teach you things that will never be used at the job. Kind of a waste of time right? Everybody in the program gives vague general advice about careers that you can find on google. A lot of politics and you see people being favored which lowers morale for the students. When you get the internship its a mixed bag. Sometimes you can be doing a lot and your team needs you or you can be doing nothing your whole time there. Why year up sets up students like this? I have no clue. Leads to tons of hopelessness. At the end of the day it's like a recruitment agency trying to hit numbers disguised as a non profit. Many year up graduates I know went back to the same old jobs they had before the program.

Cons

The "leadership" and the people who are scared of them. Nobody will stand up for anything because they are scared that they will lose their jobs. Most of the people that left were under appreciated and overworked. Only four directors are actually good people managers (Admissions/Academics/Development/Operations) The "executive director" set up meetings to get to know her staff...guess what, she probably only knows 8 people in a 50 staff maximum environment. (8 directors)