Give. Advocate. Vounteer. Be United in your community through United Way.
Pros
Community involvement and leadership. Working for United Way is a very visual position - everyone knows who you are. Which of course can be good (networking and career advancement) and bad (you can't run to the grocery store in your sweat pants at 11:00 at night). As long as you maintain a high quality work product you are in good shape. Unfortunately past impressions of a weak board and weak leadership has caused some individuals in the community to withdraw their financial support, so a lot of what I am doing is re-relationship building, which fortunately is something at which I am accomplished.
Cons
No health insurance, no 401K. It really stinks that an organization that prides itself on "providing for those in need" doesn't provide for its own employees. In my organization's defense - we are very small. There has been some rumor of consolidation and regionalizing over the next 10 years. If that does happen, then the number of paid employees will increase and the organization might then be able to offer a benefits package. Another downside, and this may have been because of poor previous management, is the lack of resources and lack of vision. When I got here the newest computer in the office was 10 years old. 10!!!!!! And no technology budget in sight.
