MAKING A DIFFERENCE : One Company’s Approach: Educate the Job Applicant Pool Yourself
Managers at California-based Home Savings and Loan were confounded nearly two decades ago by the fact that teen-age unemployment measured three times higher than in the general population, while entry-level positions at their company went begging for qualified applicants. In response, the company hired its own teachers and launched a corrective program in four California inner-city high schools.
The Career Awareness Program, founded in 1975, offers classroom training, academic scholarships and summer employment, helps students understand the job market and develop the skills they need to find and keep full-time jobs. CAP has expanded to include 136 schools in five states; 13,910 high school seniors have completed the program and 911 graduates have been awarded $3.7 million in college scholarships. One-fourth of the students who participate in the summer job program, nationally, have been hired by the company for full-time permanent employment.
ONE PARTICIPANT’S EXPERIENCE
Noah Rodrigeuz Career Awareness Program graduate and senior at Wilson High School, a Career Awareness Program pilot school
The program deals with topics that you’re going to have to know whether or not you go into business--things like business etiquette, phone etiquette, interview dress, relating to people.
My favorite part was learning about finance--interest, the concept of banking and savings, how to manage your finances and balance a checkbook. Most students are oblivious to that and I think the course brought us that knowledge and made us aware. Now I’m more informed, more prepared to go into any job.
After the summer I’m going to college. A lot of us are going to be gone and on our own, not only away from our parents but away from their pocketbooks. And we’ll have our own pocketbook to deal with.
Most of my classmates, we all saw the business world as sort of boring, but the program brought us a different sense of the business world, how exciting and important it can be when you’re dealing with money and managing it.
GETTING INVOLVED
To receive a copy of the booklet “How to start your own Career Awareness Program,” call B. Judy Morgan Phillips, vice-president, CAP manager, at (818) 814-7211 or write to Home Savings of America, Career Awareness Program, 4900 Rivergrade Rd., Irwindale, CA 91076.
COMPONENTS OF CAREER AWARENESS PROGRAM:
INSTRUCTION:
Students attend 15 weekly two-hour sessions for one semester. Classes are taught by full-time teachers employed by Home Savings.
Participants learn how to manage a checking account and credit cards, maintain good credit, find a job, prepare a resume, complete a job application, interview for and keep a job, select and maintain a career wardrobe.
Program graduates receive priority hiring status when compared to other individuals with similar qualifications.
1975-1992:
10,125 students enrolled in Southern California
Students completing program: 63%
Classroom ethnic and racial representation, Southern California:
Latino: 56%
Asian: 23%
Black: 15%
Other: 7%
SCHOLARSHIPS:
One program graduate from each participating school receives a $4,000 scholarship: $1,000 a year for four years. Recipients must maintain a 2.5 grade point average or better.
1975-1992:
Scholarships worth $1.33 million awarded in So. Cal: 332
Top value: $1.33 million
EMPLOYMENT:
Home Savings offers summer jobs to the top 10% of CAP students from each class. Where job vacancies exist, distinguished trainees are hired as regular employees. Nationally, 5 % of all Home Savings and Loan employees were Career Awareness program students.
1975-92:
Southern California Career Awareness Program students employed in summer jobs: 1,392
Percent of Southern California students retained in permanent full-time positions: 34%
