I have not been enjoying my work at Goodwill much. It is boring, repetitive, and doesn’t pay very much. So I’ve been sending out emails again, trying to see if I can get something better.
I got a bite back. They want me to be a canvasser for a progressive canvassing group, and right now, they want me to canvass for health care reform. This would be a real opportunity for me to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, and take a job that has the ability to make tangible changes for the better. It also was heavily hinted at that they want me for a management job, if I work out.
Here’s the catch- it’s also a fund-raising job, and my paycheck will be dependent on how much I can fund-raise. The last time I worked in sales I was a Girl Scout. So, I’m not actually sure if I’m going to be any good at this, and there are bills to pay.
Hubby is supportive- he’s willing to take the risk if I am. But, I’m hesitant…my stint as severely underemployed and then moderately underemployed have depleted anything looking like “savings”. My student loans are going to come do soon, and we’ve got all the other fun things that make life worth living (shelter, electricity, cell phone) to be concerned about. Yet, I’d really like to see if I could do this.
What does everyone think? Should I take the risk, come what may, or is this one of those things that is a needless gamble?
I did this for approximately 2 days while I was in college. Two years later, I got a check from a class action lawsuit against the organization I worked for – apparently they kept more than their share of my taxes.
Anyway, in my experience, these organizations are pyramid schemes, and the job, to put it lightly, sucks. In my two days of canvassing, I hardly got any biters, and I just felt like I was a salesman rather than an activist, which made me reconsider my beliefs in the first place. I decided I didn’t feel good about “selling” politics.
This is just my two cents. Good luck in the search!
Um…is it, by any chance, CALPIRG you’re talking about? I worked at a job that sounds much like what you’re talking about while I was in college, and I HATED it so hard.
If you’re trying to decide if you can do it, ask yourself this one question: Are you ok with going to work not knowing if you’ll get paid worth your time or not? If the answer is yes, go for it, take the job. If you want to know for sure that you’re going to get paid a reasonable wage for your time, though, don’t do it. That was what I hated, and what led me to quitting, because I could go work a 10-hr day (7-8 hrs canvassing, plus travel time and cashing out at the end of the night) and get paid all of $30 for it if it was a slow day.
But if you choose to go for it, I wish you luck. Be ready to have a very thick skin for rejection and get a lot of doors shut in your face. Also, learn who to argue with and who not to. Don’t waste time arguing with genuinely unreceptive people; it may be good for the cause but it’s bad for your bottom line, cause that’s time you could be spending on people who will give you money.
I’d have a hard time saying quit the guaranteed, albeit boring and not interesting, paycheck for a job that, though possibly interesting and not boring, is COMPLETELY dependent on your raising money for hcr. If it had a base salary then commission-based bonuses, that’d be different. But if you’re essentially a door-to-door salesperson? Right now?
Good luck if you do take it. I’m going through the same thing you are right now; it sucks. Being a liberal in this country pays for shit, if you’re lucky enough to find a job.
I worked 2 months canvassing for a rape crisis center in Denver, and it was without doubt the worst job I’ve ever had, even beating out McDonald’s. I was told about 50 times a day that being a woman walking around outside, I was going to be raped, that I was dressed too sexy, was threatened, and had dogs sicced on me.
Any kind of commission work is awful to begin with, but canvassing especially is really not fun. It’s an economic downturn right now, so you’re going to be getting even less donations than usual. Throw in a political angle and you’re looking at a job that consists of being insulted 10 times an hour for almost no pay.
Antigone, my mom has managed nonprofit thrift stores for more than 10 years (Habitat for Humanity, Goodwill, and the ARC). Everything I hear from her has led me to believe that they’re a pretty unhealthy work environment, physically and mentally. I say, go for the canvassing job. Right now, spreading the message about healthcare reform could do a lot of good.
I sorta agree with the comments thus far. Canvassing more-or-less sucks and there’s a lot of people can attest to that. There’s a reason that those “Jobs to Save the Environment” are targeted at young college kids–many have the luxury of bringing a bit of class privilege to the table allowing them to work for less than a fair wage for something they care about. So basically, if you’re going to take the job, you should take it for the movement and not for yourself. You honestly ask yourself “Would I be happy if I got to talk to 30 people a day about health care, even though 12 of whom hated me and didn’t listen, and only made $25 on a days worth of work.
You will be more of a salesperson than advocate. Lots of people quit after 1-2 days, a lot of people get fired after 1-2 weeks (you’ll have a weekly quota, it won’t be fair, and for the first few weeks they’ll be seriously strict about it). That probably cuts down 90% of the people who show up for the job. But of the remaining 10% come many of the leaders of progressive organizations. Of course there are other ways to get ahead, and if you take the canvass job and hate it or fail at it, it definitely doesn’t make you a bad person–just not cut out for sales. There are other forms of advocacy.
Just be honest with yourself as to whether you can deal with asking people for money 8 hours a day. No matter how good the cause is, you’re still asking people for money. Some people can do that; others can’t. If you don’t know which one you are, just be prepared to get out of it quickly. And good luck!