YMCA News:
Do you love being creative? Organizing? Talking to people? Helping others? Working out? Want to make an impact?
While need drives job seekers, it is satisfaction that turns most into job keepers. Aligning your talent, your knack, or enjoyment with a position that pays the bills is one key to job satisfaction that could develop into a career, as was the case with many current Y staff.
The Y has open positions at the front desk, after school program and Los Alamos Teen Center that could be the beginning of a wonderful career.
Jocelyn Hayes Chapman came to work at the Y when a friend who worked there recruited her. Twenty years later Chapman said, “Every day is different. Nothing is ever the same.”
She is an administrative assistant supporting membership and childcare programs. She also awards scholarships and manages social media. One of her toughest duties was processing a member’s drop form who had to move away for cancer treatment.
Chris Daniels, Y business manager, has worked in finance for nonprofits for 15 years, as well as other work. “I like working for organizations and people that have a common mission.” He said that Y work, “gives my work a sense of purpose that is greater than the task at hand. I continue to be impressed by the breath of programs at the Y and the far-reaching impact. We are touching the communities in so many different ways.”
Janine Morales was attending college at UNM-LA when she found work in childcare at the Y. She completed a degree in Human Services from Springfield College, and as Childcare Director and after 16 years, calls herself a Y lifer. “I didn’t know how rewarding it was going to be,” she said. “I bought in to serving people and making that my life’s mission.”
Morales said the mission of the Y has enhanced her own personal mission. “This work has taught me that the world really is small; that we all have the same struggles and the same needs. We all need somebody to help us along the way,” she says.
Melanie Chapman started “Jazzercise” right out of high school to address her desire to get fit. She found she loved dancing, and soon became a Y instructor and eventually a Y wellness director. She recently moved into human resources for the organization.
“I love the Y because I love what it does for members and staff. It makes a lot of difference in a lot of lives,” she said.
Diana Martinez took a job at the Y’s front desk 18 years ago. She was a freelance writer, her kids were finally all in school, and she wanted a job to help buy stamps to send out her manuscripts.
“After staying at home, I was amazed how much I liked being around people. Members tended to make my day happier. They were happy to be there.” She went on to become a program director and then a grant writer for the Y. “I am so happy that I fell into a job that feels good to go to, you hope you are helping some people.”
Estrella Young’s friend Jennifer Bartram told her there was a job at the Y’s front desk that had her name written all over it. “I like busy work and I like people.” Young had been working in customer service in high school and college where she studied Criminal Justice, but a different type of service called her. Young is now the Y’s membership director. She said it feels great to help someone who had been unhappy to leave with a smile. She never pictured herself leading people, but her natural course is to lead by example and this is how she works and trains others at the Y.
