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Job Placements
The focus of vocational training for underserved populations
is generally economic improvement either through college or
employment. Much of the grant funding for these populations
measures success by job placement. Our Networking Academies
agree that this is currently the greatest challenge for them.
 Marketing Entry-level Students
Preparing Entry-level Students
Job Search Strategies for Entry-level Students
Job Development Activities
Job Retention
This challenge is producing some remarkably creative strategies.
"The city is going to have several employer forums.
We will include information about our Cisco project. Since
the city negotiates contracts with these employers, we
hope this will create opportunities to help secure employment
slots for the kids."
Greg Murray
Communities in Schools
Detroit, MI
To market students, organizations have used job placement
departments, job developers, and teacher contacts as well
as combinations of these methods. Once contact is made with
a company or organization, a marketing packet in electronic
or print form can provide needed information. Many companies
have been surprised at the depth of the curriculum and range
of skills graduates have. Be sure to emphasize key program
points.
Marketing packets can include information on the program,
a summary of the curriculum skills, certification requirements,
copies of student resumes, and even action photos of students
in a professional environment. They may also include the
instructor's personal observations of the student's positive
work habits, qualities or behavior.
"I send a newsletter out to 130 employers, employer
organizations, staffing companies, etc. I go out. I meet
people. I talk with employers. When anyone comes on center
that can potentially have opportunities for our students,
I ask that they be brought to see our Networking Academy
and let me talk to them.
"I manage the teaching and prospecting because we have
what we call CLUSTERING. Our Center director encourages
us to be out and about in the community. That means the
other four people in my cluster know that somewhere along
the line, they'll cover for me for a couple of hours.
The students know what they need to do. Sometimes the
counselor will come in and talk about job skills or help
them work on their resumes"
Adam Toback, Instructor
Phoenix Job Corps
Phoenix, AZ
"I work on strategies and different ways of getting
the students into the company. We bring in the business
community so that they can see what's going on. We have
posted our success stories, our advertising, and our newspaper
articles. When businesses come through, that's the first
surprise. They have no idea that these students are getting
this kind of quality education. Then they offer to host
some students for tours, to come and speak or to provide
opportunities to shadow and that's how things begin to
happen."
Beth Border, Career Specialist
Chantilly High School
Fairfax, VA
Even experienced vocational training and placement organizations
learned valuable lessons regarding technical job placement.
"We've been doing vocational training and placement
for years so our interview preparation includes the traditional:
appropriate attire, dress rehearsals, video taped mock
interviews.
"We were blown away when the first interviewees came back
destroyed. We didn't prepare them for technical interviews.
It seems that some companies have their technicians drill
them on their technical knowledge early in the process
so they don't waste their time on those that can't cut
it. Because they are entry-level, they didn't know how
to handle the questions beyond what they learned and tried
to "wing it".
"We quickly regrouped. Armed the students with copies
of the CCNA Curriculum to provide to technical interviewers
and asked the teacher to drill them with both questions
within their realm of knowledge and some beyond. The teacher
and job prep counselor also helped them with honest and
positive ways to handle questions on information beyond
what they know."
Acte Maldonado, Dean
Borough of Manhattan Community College
New York, NY
Some Networking Academies focus on teaching the curriculum
and work with other organizations to provide support services
for student success.
"Communities In Schools does the training for interviews
and they will probably use the same companies they used
for internships for placement."
Dennis Quatrine,
Henry Ford Community College Regional Networking Academy
Detroit, MI
"We hired a Human Resources consultant to teach them
'The Art of the Electronic Job Search,' and 'Preparing
an E-Mail and a Web Resume.'"
Acte Maldonado, Dean
Borough of Manhattan Community College
New York, NY
"Our partner, Bank One, reviews and revises resumes.
Then professionals from the bank come to the school, meet
one-to-one with each student, and conduct mock interviews."
Greg Murray
Communities in Schools
Detroit, MI
"We work with the San Jose Redevelopment Agency. They
are responsible for job placement."
Amy Estes
San Jose Emergency Housing Consortium
San Jose, CA
"Job Corps provides job search training and employment
skills. We also work with the One-Stop Centers. They do
job preparation and placement."
Adam Toback, Instructor
Phoenix Job Corps
Phoenix, AZ
Networking Academies need to help students set realistic
expectations about their skills, and guide them toward positions
with career potential.
"An entry-level person is hired as customer support.
Nobody's going to trust an 18- or 19-year-old with their
routers. The obstacle I see them facing is going from
entry-level to network engineer. They find they need to
go to a community college for brush-up training or more
training."
Carlos Colom
Alameda County Office of Education
Hayward, CA
"Help desk or customer support is a good entry-level
position. However, there is help desk and then there is
help desk. If your job is mainly end user support: 'I
can't print, my Word isn't merging or I forgot my password,'
then you're losing your network skills and this position
will not help you move up. If your job is more WAN, LAN
related: 'My e-mail server isn't responding,' this will
help you move toward Network Engineer."
Felix Law, CCNA, Graduate
Borough of Manhattan Community College
New York, NY
"Our first placement started work the day after graduation
with Chase Securities making $57,000 per year. He is a
dynamic individual with an outgoing personality and the
ability to sell himself. He set an unrealistic precedent.
We tried to explain that to students. One student turned
down a $50,000 a year job because he felt he could do
better.
"Experience was the best teacher. After a few months
of job search, they finally started accepting the $40,000
to $55,000 per year, graveyard shift, network operations,
and three/four day rotations. They understood they had
to get experience."
Acte Maldonado, Dean
Borough of Manhattan Community College
New York, NY
Networking Academies may choose different levels of involvement,
depending on their priorities and resources.
Cisco has launched an Alumni
Network Home Page for Academy graduates. It features
a partnership with Monster.com
to provide Networking Academy students and graduates with
interviewing hints, resume writing tips and a wealth of
information for technology job seekers. Monster.com is a
global, web-based job search service. Students can search
for job openings in their local area. They can also post
their resumes.
"You have to get pretty creative. Building good relationships
is very important. I work on strategies and different
ways of getting the students into the company and let
them sell themselves. Once in there, they convince the
manager that they have the skills to do the job. We're
putting a lot of our students out on Shadowing and Informational
interviews and we're doing corporate tours. When the students
start asking questions, they blow away the speaker."
Beth Border, Career Specialist
Chantilly High School
Fairfax,VA
"Our philosophy is a self-directed job search. In this
industry, the workers move a lot. If they are going to
survive, they have to know how to job search and how to
network. Since they were accustomed to teamwork during
their training, we continued that into the job search.
We used a listserv to communicate quickly. When people
found job openings, they would put them on the listserv.
As they were hired, they would leave their resumes posted
on web sites and pass on any new offers they received.
The results? Ten out of 12 were placed on their own efforts.
Maybe more important, three have moved since their initial
placement for more money and they all keep in touch with
each other."
Acte Maldonado, Dean
Borough of Manhattan Community College
New York, NY
Another strategy for the entry-level student job search
is to use a One-Stop Centers through Workforce Investment
Board (WIB). These organizations centralize information
and services to help individuals obtain employment.
"We make sure that all trainees are introduced to the
One-Stops in their area. With the One-Stop, we put together
a two-week package where they work on various employment
skills, the various One-Stop services and how they can
use the services. The idea is to make looking for a job
easier."
Adam Toback, Instructor
Phoenix Job Corps
Phoenix, AZ
Job development may be the responsibility of a department
or an individual. This depends on the size of the Networking
Academy and the importance the organization has placed on
job placement as a student goal. Whether it's the responsibility
of one or one hundred, the activities are similar.
Job developers find markets for Networking Academy students
and sell potential employers on the program, the organization,
and the student candidate. They use the same job search
techniques as students: read classified ads, search the
Internet, and cold call prospective employers.
"We work with a lot of small- to mid-size companies.
The colleges and universities also welcome working with
trainees that they can assign to an experienced person.
I'm currently working with city government."
Keith Nixon, Career Specialist
Phoenix Job Corps
Phoenix, AZ
"We have a job fair and we involve the public schools.
Jim Nimblack, Cisco sales, is a great support.
Adam Toback, Instructor
Phoenix Job Corps
Phoenix, AZ
When job developers find a potential position, they try
to develop a relationship with the organization. They contact
as high-level a decision maker as possible to present a
win-win opportunity for placing graduates.
"With smaller companies go straight to the president.
Because in the smaller companies the president is usually
close enough to the people doing the work that the right
person will get back to us. Then it's just the issue of
plug, plug, plug. I also get on the Internet with jobs.com,
easycentral.com, jobinc.com. I look to see who has positions
posted then I contact the company directly."
Keith Nixon, Career Specialist
Phoenix Job Corps
Phoenix, AZ
Job developers are also active in the community with the
Chamber of Commerce, private industry councils, technology
clubs and organizations, and Workforce Investment Boards
(WIB).
The WIBs, formed under the Workforce
Investment Act , help community economic development
efforts and manage government training monies for underserved
populations.
Good job developers value and work with the program's alumni
for company introductions. An employer who is satisfied
with an employee's performance will entertain hiring others
with the same training and preparation.
"I told my manager I accepted an offer with another
company. I told him I couldn't pass it up, but I had two
people I could refer to him. I gave him Felix's and Kirk's
resumes."
Carlos Fraga, Student
Borough of Manhattan Community College
New York, NY
When development activities work well and there is a relationship
of trust and quality output, it is easier to organize job
fairs, technology fairs and campus interviews. These activities
bring the employers to the Networking Academy students.
"Success is not about landing a job-it's about building
a career"
Women's Professional Organization
Workforce training programs today realize that digital divide
populations often need support for at least six months after
they have found employment and then decreasing levels of
support through their career or until they have learned
to manage their own career development. Training programs
that did not anticipate these needs on their own have been
motivated to provide retention services by their funding
sources. An increasing number of funding dollars are awarded
as performance contract. A percentage of the total is earned
upon completion of training, a percentage upon job placement,
a percentage after 3 months of employment, a percentage
after 6 months, and some extend full payment to 1 year.
"We work with welfare clients to make sure they understand
their transitional benefits. We offer supplemental training
free of charge while they are working. Our counselors
develop the relationship with the client while they are
in the training so that clients feel comfortable calling
if they are having difficulties on the job. For the women,
we work with Dress for Success, an organization that is
focused on helping low-income women succeed. Good retention
also results in additional job placements. Our high retention
equals an employer's low turn-over rates."
Mary Kieran
Borough of Manhattan Community College
New York, NY
Dress for Success
is a nonprofit service organization that provides products
and services to help women get employment, retain their
jobs and develop careers. If eligible, an Academy can become
a member organization and refer its female clients to Dress
for Success. The student will receive a consultation, and
a business suit for interviewing. Once the student/client
obtains employment, she can return to Dress for Success
to receive up to a week's worth of business attire for their
new job. Accessories are also provided. These are all provided
at no dollar cost to the client or the member organization.
Once the student becomes a client of Dress for Success,
she is eligible to join the Professional
Women's Organization. This is a membership support group
tailored to the needs of low-income women. Members are invited
to participate in workshops that discuss basic finances,
repairing credit records. They also have access to a network
of complementary professional organizations in dentistry,
career coaching, and childcare services.
The benefits to Academies as member organizations is the
ability to provide job placement preparation and retention
services to their female participants in a structured format
that will provide follow up data for funding sources. Dress
for Success has 70 affiliates throughout the United
States, Canada, England, and New Zeland.
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