Young adult leadership is critical to SSP’s mission to mentor and guide volunteers, especially youth, in their service-learning work with our partner communities. We will hire teams of 7 staff members to lead each site.

Sierra Service Project is now accepting applications for these summer staff positions:

• Site Director
• Food Service Coordinator (two per team)
• Spiritual Life Coordinator
• Construction Coordinator (three per team)

• Rewarding & Challenging

  • Staff live and work together, running all aspects of the summer program for 200 to 300 youth, young adult, and adult volunteers. Most volunteers spend a week at site.

• Unique Responsibilities

  • From preparing meals for large groups to drawing plans for construction projects, each position has unique responsibilities. No prior SSP or job experience is needed, training is provided.

• Community Building

  • All staff members share in the responsibility for safeguarding the health and safety of the whole community. Each staff member contributes to modeling and creating a safe, supportive environment of growth for all participants.

• Benefits & Training

  • Meals, transportation, and housing are provided for the duration of employment. Ten days of paid training is provided in Sacramento before staff head to the SSP summer site location in our partner communities.

Locations:

Employment starts and ends in Sacramento, CA. Travel funds are available to get you to and from Sacramento from your home.

Staff will work with two partner communities during the 2025 summer:

Employment dates are June 11 (when training begins) and August 17 (when debrief concludes). Contact us if you have scheduling conflicts.

Qualifications:

• 18+ and a high school graduate (or GED) plus at least one year of college or work experience
• Suitability to work with and act as a role model to youth
• Mature and flexible leadership among people of all ages and backgrounds 
• Capability in conflict resolution, communication, and organization
• Able to work with no or limited interruption for the duration of your employment. Please identify any schedule limitations within the application.
• Employees who work with youth are required by California law to complete Live Scan fingerprinting (paid for and organized by SSP); any convictions may lead to a job offer being revoked.

Deadline: Applications were due February 9, but will be accepted on a rolling basis through February. Please apply ASAP if you are considering this opportunity.

Application Process:

Complete an online application, which includes essay questions and identifying references. We will send an online questionnaire to your references via email, and advise you to give advance notice to allow them sufficient time to complete this reference.

We suggest writing and editing your essays in a separate document and copying and pasting your responses into the fields. Take the essay questions seriously, but limit your responses to 150-250 words. If you prefer, you may answer any question via a 1 to 3 minute audio / video response. List n/a in the essay response field.

Written Essays:

1. Tell us about yourself: background, interests, and current activities. What formative experiences have made you into the person you are today? In what ways can your gifts or experiences be an asset to SSP?

2. What was the most challenging thing you accomplished in the past 12 months? Why was it challenging, and how did you handle it? What did you learn from this experience?

3. You will likely be called on to share aspects of your life story this summer with volunteers. A component of this would be your experience with spirituality or sense of purpose. What would you share, and how comfortable are you with sharing?

4. SSP’s purpose is: “to build strong connections and resilience among communities, by equipping volunteers in home repair skills and community-based projects. Making necessary home repairs accessible to historically underserved residents allows communities to thrive and individuals to safely age in place. Inherent in the purpose is the specific involvement of youth and young adult volunteers.” How do you personally connect with and hope to embody SSP’s purpose if hired this summer? Why did you decide to apply to work for SSP next summer?

Informational Zoom Call & Interview:

After completing this application and receiving your references, someone in the SSP office will contact you to schedule an informational Zoom call. The next step will be a Zoom interview with a Site Director and HQ staff person.