City Year Career pathways featuring Taco Bell

Gaining valuable work experience is crucial to accelerating your career. But “work” experience may be extended to volunteering as well. As a City Year Detroit AmeriCorps member, you will work as an agent for social change, allowing you to impact vulnerable communities while at the same time providing you with a unique experience that will make you stand out, even years after your service has ended. It will enable you to learn more about what activities and fields you may be interested in, allow your strengths to blossom, build a diverse network and at the same time refine skills you may already have.

According to a report by the Corporation for National and Community Service, candidates with volunteer experience have a 27% better chance of finding employment than non-volunteer peers. ¹ In a Deloitte survey of human resources executives, 81% felt skilled volunteering should be considered in a hiring decision and 76% felt volunteering made a candidate more desirable – with the desirability factor even higher for volunteer experience among college graduates.² But it is not just employers who validate the attributes of volunteers. In 2019-2020, 98% of our City Year Detroit AmeriCorps members stated that they were able to grow and develop their talent during their year of service.

City Year Detroit recently spoke with representatives from Team Lyders Franchise, a subsidiary of Taco Bell, to learn more about potential career pathways. Jen Liskiewicz, Team Lyders Franchise Human Resources Manager said, “As an HR professional I can tell you that the first thing my colleagues and I look for when we are scanning a resume is experience. Putting City Year and AmeriCorps on your resume is a huge step forward for those of us looking to hire.”

Liskiewicz, an AmeriCorps alum herself went on to say, “The experience I gained [as an AmeriCorps member] started me along a career path that opened doors that I would not have been able to cross, if I did not have the professional experience behind me.”

Photo Source: https://www.facebook.com/Teamlyders

No matter where your career may take you, serving with City Year Detroit can hone your professional development skills to make you a more attractive applicant. These skills could include public speaking, technology skills, communications & marketing, project management, leadership opportunities, and most importantly, it allows you to work alongside peers for a common goal. These benefits will prepare you to excel in your future career and will impress socially conscious companies, like Team Lyders, long after your volunteer period.

Serving with City Year also opens the door to new experiences that you may not have otherwise been introduced to. Perhaps you discover that you are especially good at communicating your story, and you find a new passion for public speaking. Maybe your photography hobby allows you to share your volunteer experience on social media, representing the organization to hundreds of followers. City Year Detroit can add new attributes to your resume, reinforce skills you are learning, and allow you to develop new skills and possibilities. All these opportunities make you a more qualified candidate for your career after service.

Dane Mamula, Team Lyders Franchise Market Coach, has been working with City Year Detroit for the last four years. He not only is an advocate for the students that City Year Detroit serves, but also participates in several of the networking and mentoring opportunities City Year Detroit hosts throughout the year for our AmeriCorps members. During our Career Pathways event, he reiterated that “we (Taco Bell) offer a wide variety of roles for prospective candidates, and I can promise you that those that serve with City Year are at the top of our list.”

In today’s hiring market, your network can be your biggest ally when it comes to getting on the right career path. City Year can offer you a diverse network of community partners, alumni, and professionals to build relationships throughout your year of service. With so many socially conscious individuals working towards a common goal, service provides ample opportunities to connect with like-minded people, which may lead to future career or growth opportunities.  According to our 2020 alumni study, 93% of alumni said City Year helped them to develop relationships with people from different backgrounds than their own.

To watch the full video with Team Lyders (Taco Bell) click here! If you are interested in learning more about how City Year can help you build a career path, contact Andrew.

If you are interested in the vast array of career opportunities at Team Lyders, check out the website for more information or watch the full event here.

¹Source: www.nationalservice.gov/sites/default/files/upload/Vol_EmploymentReportInfo.pdf
2Source: www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/us-citizenship-2013-impact-survey-skills-based-volunteerism.pdf