Pros
I think the YMCA was a great place to work if you are in high school/college. I spent 7 years working there, starting out as a front line staff, moving up into the office as an Office Assistant, and ending my career there as a Coordinator. It was great for when I was in college (or if I had started in high school) because my department was very flexible with my school schedule, always willing to accommodate to my hectic school schedule and wanting to have somewhat of a social life. I got to pick and choose the hours I worked in 6 week chunks, and was able to add or take off time if I wasn't able to commit to the 6 week chunk we were scheduled in. It's great for those just starting off in the work place, as you don't need a whole lot of experience as a lifeguard/swim instructor. I liked that I was able to move up when I was ready and able to, and they still accommodated to my schooling. As I was nearing the end of my college career, a supervisor/coordinator position was made available for me, and I was able to take it and further myself at the YMCA.
Cons
Unfortunately, not everything was perfect. I was working as an Office Assistant 2 years before I was given an actual job description to sign, which means I was working as an "Office Assistant" as a "front line staff" payrate. Then, I was not given a pay increase when I had to bump my hours down and they hired in two brand new office assistants at a higher payrate with way less experience than myself to replace me. I had to fight my director to get the equal pay. I then worked 2 years as a coordinator under the "office assistant" title and was still not paid as a coordinator until I was given yet another job description to sign. The YMCA is unfair in their pay. They pay all their staff so little and require so much out of us. They made us attend 8 meetings a years with 8 different trainings that our Director wasn't even trained in leading. Our training material was so outdated. They made the meetings mandatory, but if you missed one, or two, or all of them, you weren't always reprimanded for missing them. They don't treat all their staff equally, and there was clearly some favoritism, even if the Director disagreed.