Some of my best “on the job experience” came the summer after my Freshman year of college. I didn’t land an amazing internship nor did I do anything entrepreneurial. I landed a job at my dad’s fish and game club. Another college kid and I were responsible for assisting the club manager in maintaining the grounds on the club’s 250-acre parcel. I only had to work from 8 to 12 every day (before it got too hot), but I worked my butt off. I was filling potholes with sand, weed whacking 6 foot high weeds, and digging ditches. I came home every day dirty, tired, and occasionally with a good story (like the time a 30 ft tall tree almost fell on my head). If you want to experience what it’s like to work hard, and you want to do it for a good cause, you should check out Civic Works. They’re a Baltimore, MD based “urban service corps and an AmeriCorps program” with a mission “to build a future for Baltimore’s youth through community service and skills development.”

Get to Work

Every year Civic Works takes on approximately 200 AmeriCorps members and puts them to work. The projects range from tutoring and mentoring children to rehabilitating abandoned houses. Civic Works has a wide range of programs, all of which are focused on doing work that wouldn’t otherwise get done in Baltimore. If you’re looking to get some experience working hard and you want to make a positive change, then you can either become a corpsmember or check out the Green Projects Development Coordinator posted on Idealist. Right now they’re recruiting corpsmembers for the Community Lot Team and the Healthcare Careers Alliance, but I wouldn’t be surprised if other positions appear in the near future.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• CivicWorks.com
• Jobs at Civic Works
• About Civic Works
• Civic Works’ Programs
• Civic Works’ Annual Reports

What’s the hardest that you’ve ever worked?

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• non-profit
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