I was lied to about how much I would be working. I was told they would be moving from 5 days/week to 4 days/week. Once I got there, I found out from coworkers that the management had been using that as incentive for potential employees for over a year. That's an 80-hour work week being advertised as a 64-hour week. The pay doesn't compensate for this either; as a counselor, your salary will be $23,400. The management is desperate for employees because people are quitting constantly and also because they want to increase the size of their program (getting more $$ from the state). Instead of moving to a 4-day work week, they decided to open up another group (more kids, more money).
I was trained by an employee who was quitting after three months. Most of the time, I was expected to figure out how to manage a group of 12 male juvenile offenders on my own. I was paired with someone who was also brand new, and the most senior counselor was checked out because they, too, were quitting soon. The turnover rate is incredibly high, with most people only staying for about a year.
You will get assaulted by the boys, but don't expect to be debriefed about it. You're expected to write up a report about the incident without any follow-up or support from supervisors. Overall, there is disorganization and vague, convoluted expectations.
At the start of a new school semester, I was told the morning of that I would be teaching english that semester. There was no forewarning, training, or materials given ahead of time.
