LA Fellows is Making National News

Most of our readers are well past their Sesame Street years, but did you know that PBS has created a place for us just around the corner? Their website, Next Avenue, is a place where "grown-ups keep growing." There is a whole section on Work and Purpose with lots of informative articles that job seekers could find useful.

Next Avenue reporter Elizabeth Isele spoke to LA Fellows Program Director Allison Silver and two of our many LA Fellows graduates, Nicholas Koutouras of Cohort 2 and Christine Stenberg of Cohort 1 about our unique, award-winning program. Their stories are heavily featured in an article just posted about getting work after long-term unemployment. Check out the original story here:

http://www.nextavenue.org/article/2013-11/programs-and-tips-help-long-term-unemployed



or read on...

Programs and Tips to Help the Long-Term Unemployed

How workers over 50 can land a position, even if they've been jobless for months

More than 4 million Americans today make up the nation’s “long-term unemployed,” those who have been out of work for 27 weeks or more. That’s down from 5 million a year ago, but still an enormous number.

About the only good news for these people, often in their 50s or 60s, is that there are some innovative public/private collaborative programs successfully getting the long-term unemployed back to work.

If you’re 50+ and have been looking for a job for awhile or know someone like that, these programs are worth a look.

Workforce agencies across the country are reaching out to help thousands of displaced boomers, according to Yvette Chocolaad, employment and training director for the National Association of State Workforce Agencies. Exacerbating the challenge is the increased complexity of job searches today. People looking for work now need social media marketing and personal branding skills as well as an ability to craft their resumes to include the right keywords and meet employers’ needs.

The Platform to Employment Program

One program with proven success is the Connecticut-based Platform to Employment, profiled by Next Avenue in January and featured on 60 Minutes. Platform to Employment gives jobless people five weeks of training and then places them as interns at local employers — where they generally wind up getting hired.

Lately, Platform to Employment has expanded across the country. This year, the concept has popped up in Dallas, Cincinnati, San Diego, Chicago, Minneapolis, Newark, N.J., and, most recently, Denver. Detroit and Orlando, Fla., are on tap for this winter and San Francisco is expected to follow early next year.

The LA Fellows Program

Chocolaad also gives high marks to the LA Fellows program. Here's how it works, along with advice for midlife job-seekers from two graduates, Nicholas Koutouras and Christine Stenberg.

Launched in 2010, LA Fellows was created at Los Angeles Valley College, which saw an opportunity to address two pressing community problems: Thousands of highly skilled, middle manager-level men and women looking for work and 30 percent of local nonprofits were in danger of closing because of staffing cutbacks due to the economic climate.

The program was originally funded by Los Angeles’s Community Development Department and is now supported by local WorkSource Centers, plus a variety of government and private partners.

The LA Fellows are selected through an application and interview process just as rigorous as if the candidates were applying for jobs. Project director Allison Silver says she looks for proactive job seekers with a serious commitment and an eagerness to learn.

Once accepted, Fellows receive seven weeks of free training, including sessions on beefing up their computer and networking skills. Then they’re matched up with nearby nonprofits, where they volunteer their services for 100 hours. The projects range from updating websites to creating marketing plans to event planning to grant writing.

So far, 230 LA Fellows have graduated (each class is called a cohort) and the program has a nearly 70 percent job placement rate in Los Angeles, a city with one of the country's highest unemployment rates: 9.2 percent.

Silver says employers now come to her, asking: "How can I get an LA Fellow to come and work for me?"

Koutouras' Success Story and Advice

Here’s how LA Fellows' graduates Nicholas Koutouras and Christine Stenberg parlayed their training into satisfying, well-paid jobs and the advice they offer to the unemployed:
 LA Fellows graduate Nicholas Koutouras
Koutouras was in his late 40's when he lost his job as senior financial manager at a bank in May 2010. With a master's degree in accounting and information systems, he had built a successful career as a finance exec with large banks, insurers and accounting firms until a corporate merger eliminated his position.

Koutouras knew that hiring managers preferred to offer jobs to people who were currently working and that an LA Fellow volunteering assignment would fill that bill. After being accepted as a Fellow and going through the program's training, he was matched with the Los Angeles Ronald McDonald House to be a grant writer there.

Just prior to starting that volunteer work, however, Koutouras landed a full-time job as a senior vice president at a major national bank. He took the position (and has since been promoted). But eager to honor his Fellows commitment, Koutouras also joined a finance development committee for the Ronald McDonald House's Board of Trustees.

These days, Koutouras continues volunteering in his community — he’s on the board of the Ronald McDonald House and another group — and is an LA Fellows mentor.

Koutouras’ tips for job hunters:

1. Go get your future. "Be proactive. Once you've decided the direction you wish to go, target a company or industry and focus on preparing for your next role there," he says.

2. Join a professional organization. "Don't tell yourself you can't afford the dues; many waive their fees or reduce them for people who are currently unemployed," says Koutouras. "I joined the Financial Professionals International Association and within months I was made vice president of programs. This allowed me to directly interface with more than 300 senior level executives and practice 'my unemployed story' in a safe environment."

3. Don't waste your time sending out blind resumes or scrolling through web job boards. "Tap the hidden job market revealed to you through your network connections," he says. "Through this effort, you will learn about expansion plans at your target companies, job openings due to promotions and turnover and the identities of influential decision makers. Be sure to follow up on any of their

hidden' job tips."

Stenberg's Success Story and Advice

LA Fellows graduate Christine Stenberg

Christine Stenberg, then in her early 50s, endured a traumatic 30 days from mid-April to mid-May in 2010. Her relationship ended, two of her Labrador retrievers died and she was laid off from her IT management position due to a cutback.

Then, Stenberg was chosen for the first LA Fellows class and she has never looked back.

Her Fellows volunteer match was at a WorkSource career development center, where she trained and helped place unemployed individuals in bio-tech and pharmaceutical companies. After 43 hours of volunteering, WorkSource hired her full-time.

She then helped 60 clients find jobs before the poor economy forced the government to slash funding at the center. Sensing layoffs were coming, Stenberg drew on her new found LA Fellows confidence and skills to land a business analyst job at the National Notary Association.

Stenberg, who has since been promoted to IT manager, shares her story with each new LA Fellows class. Her three tips for the unemployed:

1. Stay positive. "Over time, your situation will change," says Stenberg. "I could have been extremely down when I lost my job and dogs. Instead, the day I was laid off, I arrived home to find four offers on my home that I had put up for sale. As a result, I didn’t have to worry about my finances and could focus on my job search."

2. Research your options online. "See what a company you're interested in says about itself," she advises. "But even more importantly, find out what others are saying about that company. What's its culture? Would you feel comfortable working there? Are current employees happy or do you spot a lot of turnover? If you like what you learn, use your networks to find an employee at the company who’d be willing to give you an informational interview."

3. Don’t let fear hold you back. "On my first day at LA Fellows," Stenberg says, "I expressed my fear of public speaking, which is a skill that’s key to your success in the program. Throughout the training, I took advantage of every opportunity to speak publicly and, as the program concluded, my colleagues selected me as one of our graduation speakers. Now that I’ve overcome this fear, I have spoken to the Los Angeles Mayor's committee and the Los Angeles Community College Board of Directors, among others, about the importance of the LA Fellows program and what it did for me."

The LA Fellows Experience by Jonathan Berger

At the informational orientations that are held to introduce people to the LA Fellows program, former Fellows come in and share their experience in the program to give job seekers who are considering applying the inside scoop on what they can expect. Jonathan Berger of Cohort 8 spoke at a recent session and agreed to share his thoughts for the blog as well:

Why did you apply for the LA Fellows program?
 

I am an attorney. I went to UCLA undergrad and then USC Law School.  I even did a semester at Notre Dame.  So I always have someone to root for on a Saturday afternoon.  In my career I’ve worked for several large hospital and healthcare companies, most recently a 12-year stint with a large pharmaceutical company.  Everything was going quite well for me until the division that I was working for was closed down by the parent company.  I was laid off, and went on unemployment for the first time in my life.

 

In many ways I was very lucky.  I was given a generous severance package in light of my length of service, and I was even brought back for a time as a consultant to help with the wind down.  I was provided “outplacement” services including a private coach for interviewing skills and job search strategies, a resume consultant to revise and improve my resume, and similar services.  It was a great “package” – but it didn’t work!

 

I thought that I was doing all the right things, sending out resumes, using the job boards like Indeed, Monster and Simply Hired. I was going to some networking meetings and things like that.   I had some interviews with some good organizations here in Los Angeles, up in the Bay Area, even Arizona.  I came close several times, but nothing clicked.  Over time I settled into a routine of half-heartedly applying for jobs that I didn’t expect to get.  Getting comfortable with being unemployed.  Finding things to occupy my time but not really getting anywhere.

 

Then I heard about the LA Fellows.  I came to an Orientation to find out more about the program.  I didn’t really know what to expect, but I had a feeling that this program was what I needed to get myself back on track.  There’s a famous saying that goes:  “90% of success is showing up”.  I showed up!

What you gained from the training portion of LA Fellows?
 

It may be a cliché that we’re tired of hearing:  “You only get out of something what you put in” – but that sums up the LA Fellows program very well.  Allison Silver and her team have assembled one of the best groups of instructors that I’ve ever seen and put together a series of classes that are more than simply a job search boot camp, they actually provide an education on not only how to be the candidate that will be selected, but how keep that job and continue to build your skills and your network to prepare you for the job after that, and the job after that, and so on. 

What were the benefits of being a part of Cohort 8?

 

There were twenty-two Fellows in Cohort 8.  It wasn’t quite the cast of the movie “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” but we were a very diverse group.  We did, however, have a few things in common: We’re serious about improving ourselves professionally and we look out for one another!  We are willing to learn, and we are willing to help each other.  Whether it was looking over each other’s resume, conducting practice interviews, staying after class to help with setting up a LinkedIn profile or sharing job leads, the Crazy Eights work as a team.  It was nice to be part of a team again.

 

It was also really good to have a regular schedule.  It may seem strange to say, but having things to do, assignments with due dates, etc., are exactly what we needed to get our minds back in shape.  The instructors know that there’d be nothing worse for us than to land a job and then fall flat on our faces on a task, or have attendance problems with being late.

 

The class schedule is rigorous.  The days are long and the breaks were short.  But that’s what the “real world” is like, isn’t it?  This program will get you in shape – believe me.

Where did you volunteer and what did gain from your nonprofit volunteer experience?

 

I came from the for profit sector.  I didn’t have much experience with nonprofits, at least not with how they operate and what the internal dynamics are like.  As part of the LA Fellows program, and in return for the education and training that LA Fellows receive, they are required to perform 100 hours of service for a nonprofit organization.   The LA Fellows program has a network of nonprofit organizations that are eager to have bright, motivated folks work as interns to gain work experience and make connections.

 

In order to get your internship you have to apply for the jobs the same way you would a “real” job. I got valuable experience applying for the internship positions, tailoring and sending resumes, scheduling interviews, showing up for interviews, being on time, not spilling my coffee, having a spare resume with me and remembering what it says, all that good stuff.

How did being an LA Fellows help you land your job/get more interviews, etc.?

 

The nonprofit internship interviews were a very positive experience.  In particular, it felt nice to be “wanted” and for it to be more of a “two-way street”, where I was actually interviewing the nonprofit and deciding if it was a good fit for me. 

 

My volunteer work was done at The Center for Nonprofit Management in downtown LA.  It is a “capacity builder” helping other nonprofits in Southern California with management and organization strategies, consulting services and executive coaching.  My work there has given me valuable experience in my sector, healthcare, and it has given me something real and current to talk about in interviews, networking conversations, etc.

So, did the LA Fellows work for you?

 

Yes, it worked!  Just recently, I had a three-hour interview with a small law firm downtown.  It  was great to feel so prepared and confident.  I used my STAR stories (where one gives an example of a “Situation, Task, Action and Result” that demonstrates one’s skills and experience) and I presented a strong and well-reasoned case for how the hiring manager would be glad to hire me.  So, I was delighted to be offered a job as an attorney working on healthcare and corporate transactions, which is exactly the kind of work that I wanted to do! The job is starting out as a part-time position, which is actually good so that I can ease into it.  But I get the feeling that it’s going to be full-time fairly soon.

 

I would advise candidates for the LA Fellows program to take the application very seriously, especially the essay or personal statement portion. Even if writing isn’t your strong suit if you’re honest about who you are and what you want to do then that will come through.  Allison and the LA Fellows team spend many hours on the selection process, and there really are many qualified people who don’t get in – so don’t be discouraged if you don’t get chosen the first time, you can apply again.

I can honestly say that I don’t think that I’d have gotten my new job without the training and support that I received from the LA Fellows program.  If you want to really take your job search to the next level then this is the program for you.

Inspiring Words from an LA Fellow

I am happy, grateful and relieved to report that starting tomorrow (4/11/2012) I start a temporary, full-time assignment at University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute. I will serve in an administrative support capacity, primarily to the deputy director and director of a division within the institute. This opportunity is testament to the power of LinkedIn. I reached out to a former colleague from over a decade ago, many months ago. This renewed connection planted a seed that now manifests as a work opportunity.


My hope and prayer for those who are still struggling and/or not yet working is that you will soon find relief and comfort. I am humbled by the blessings and friends that are afforded to me - ­ at times, undeserved. I consider all of you my friends, my fellows, my cohorts... I'd like to finish by sharing the note that I never shared in class because you all know, at least those in Cohort 4, what would have happened. This is the note that we were all asked to write at the beginning of our LA Fellows journey, to be read on the last day of class prior to graduation.



Dated: 6/6/2011

Dear Matt,

Congratulations! Do you have a job yet? :-)

Over the course of 8 weeks in the LA Fellows program you hoped to make new friends, gain insights, develop in-roads, and achieve better understanding of yourself to lead to a brighter, creative future... You also desired to have an internship opportunity that would grow and stretch you in ways that you've not previously experienced; to enrich lives and in turn be inspired by those you have come in contact with. Additionally, taking advantage of this amazing self-development construct to set you on a course of career fulfillment that re-infuses you with a passion that has lain dormant for too long. Remember, it's the journey... It's OK to fail but it's not OK to give up. Believe in you and others will as well. You deserve to be happy. Go for it!

-Matt



The above has been posted on my refrigerator since graduation last year... We usually don't know when things will align for us but if you continue to labor and nurture something somewhere is bound to bear fruit.

Keep the faith. Express gratitude every day. Be good to yourself and others.

To quote my (our) friend David Talbert, "BLESSINGS BE UPON THEE".


Sincerely,

Matt Binkley

LA Fellow, Cohort 4

Ara Easley shares how her LA Fellows training and volunteering helped her secure employment

Ara Easley, a proud LA Fellows graduate of Cohort 1, shares how she moved past the struggle and hopelessness of searching for a job and secured full-time employment.  Read all about how she made it happen:

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it... I was struggling at the time I was in LA Fellows, to the point of hopelessness. The people were great, the classes were helpful, but I felt like a lost cause. Then there was a job fair at LAVC. Tony asked who wanted to help set up, which gave us an opportunity to be of service in the moment, and talk up LA Fellows as well as ourselves. All of the skills honed in LA Fellows came into play. LA Fellows filled in the conversational gap of "what are you doing now?", and we had spent countless hours with all of our coaches figuring out what we wanted to do next, and how to present it concisely, confidently and with our own personality shining through.

I met a recruiter, who asked what I was looking for, and I perkily answered non-profit. He asked if I would be open to loan processing. My smile stayed just as big as I said yes. He asked what I had been making, and then presented this salary, which is a cut, but is way more than I was making while unemployed, so once again I stayed open and positive. The job turned out to be a Bankruptcy Specialist at Bank of America, temp-to-perm, and after the scheduled nine month contract it has finally gone perm! Nine of us started that day, and four of us are left.

It may have been a tip from Lynnette that put me over the edge... she said to use your real job title no matter how dry, and no matter how little it represents your actual job. I had an eight year stint at Northrop Grumman growing from Benefits Assistant to Associate Benefits Analyst to Benefits Analyst. The Bank of America job was obtained through resume alone, with the briefest of phone interviews. Those titles told the recruiter I had a background in Insurance and was very analytical and detail-oriented. I may have other skills, and they may have even come out more if I fudged my title to match the tasks from my previous position, but these are the skills I've been hired for, and am continuing to hone them while I am at Bank of America. I am truly grateful to LA Fellows for the support and the tools to get me back on my feet and back to work!"

Ara Easley, Cohort 1, proudly displays her LA Fellows certificate at graduation

Spotlight on Colette Ostrye

Colette Ostrye from cohort two recently completed her volunteer hours with Abode Communities, a nonprofit organization dedicated to opening new doors in people's lives through the creative and responsible design, development and operation of service-enhanced affordable housing.


We recently received a glowing recommendation for Colette Ostrye from Marla Alvarez, Community Services Manager at Abode that we would like to share a piece of:
Thank you, Colette for exemplifying the very best of the LA Fellows program and congrats on completing your volunteer hours at Abode Communities.

"Colette updated and reorganized the Excel tabulation matrix, entered the data and analyzed the results. She also made further refinements as needed to generate clearer answers from respondents. We will use the survey instrument that Colette adapted as a template for our current and future properties.

I have been very pleased with her work and the projects that Colette has completed. Colette is a warm and thoughtful person who is methodical and focused in her work. She is eager to learn and has graciously taken on tasks that can be quite tedious. She is self-directed and while she works independently, she does not hesitate to ask for additional clarification on tasks when needed. Our department can be quite busy and new projects come up quickly. Colette was always flexible and adapted to any changes with good humor. In addition, Colette solicited feedback on ways to improve her work.

We are pleased that we were able to provide Colette with an opportunity to explore other fields and to further enrich her skills. I am certain that she would be a welcome addition to any organization."

Cheryl Norris talks about her new job and the LA Fellows experience

We are thrilled to announce that cohort 2's Cheryl Norris has just made an exciting career transition!  Cheryl will be configuring, testing, and training court employees in the use of new case management software in the California Courts system.  There is so much we could say about Cheryl's journey as an LA Fellow, but we thought you might enjoy hearing about her experience directly: 

"When I started the program, I had been unemployed for over a year and had no confidence that I would be able to find a job. I really didn't know what job I wanted, how to look for a job, or where to get started.

One of the most important things I learned, was to be honest with myself about what I liked doing and what I was good at, instead of just applying for jobs that were the same as my last job. Once I was able to find my focus after several false starts, I signed up for email alerts with many employment webesites, such as localjobwall.com, and received emails everyday with new opportunities.

It only took 3 months for me to land a new job, which required me to use all the skills I recently learned during the LA Fellows program, such as resume writing, interviewing, networking, and most of all, the self confidence to go out and sell myself. 

I found the job I was looking for in terms of salary, commuting distance, and business application, and am grateful that a program like LA Fellows exists to help people in my situation get back to work."

Congrats to Kenneth Strong from Cohort 2

Kenneth Strong from Cohort 2 has secured employment with a National non profit health agency dedicated to helping children and adults with disabilities attain greater independence.  We are so thrilled for Kenneth and could say quite a bit about his experience with the program and how it helped him to find his new job, but we thought you might enjoy hearing directly from Kenneth, himself:

"I'm writing this two months after I completed the classroom portion of the LA Fellows program at LAVC, I can genuinely say the material you learn stays with you.  In just securing a job this week, I had a better and more focused approach than I had before I entered LA Fellows.  The program is many things, but for me, it best provided direction.  So often, when looking for a job we are distracted by so many opportunities that we forget exactly what to spend the bulk of our energy on.  I had spread myself so thin I was applying for jobs as diverse as Fire Fighter and Administrative Assistant with no real purpose other than to get a paycheck.  I lacked focus and each week I didn't get a job, my confidence dipped lower and lower.

Personally, the program taught me many things about the job market that I had not known-- as I hadn't had to look for a job for 10 years.  I learned big things, such as completely 100% re-writing my resume and little things such as don't slide around in your chair in an interview.  (This latter part came in very handy when, in my interview, I was given a chair on wheels and my instinct always is to twist and turn the day away when I sit in these things!  I kept still and professional and let my smile show my lighter side; not my slide :)  

The LA Fellows program most of all is about the people you meet.  Everyone has such diverse backgrounds; not just in careers, but in life experience, and having all these people working and learning side-by-side with you is a true asset.  You make friends and you move forward in life.  Remembering them and your successes together will build your confidence and become the bedrock in your career advancement. 

Being in such a dynamic group and led by experienced instructors, you not only learn interviewing and resume skills, but understand what other people look for in job seekers.  You get support from class members and the opportunity to support others.  You have a community and each day you learn and get better at what you are aiming for.  

Additionally, as a volunteer you meet people at Nonprofits in a very professional environment.  I had the opportunity to not only learn about their business in a Development office, but I got to make a promotional video for them -- something completely unexpected, but very satisfying for me personally.  Other people in the program were able to secure employment at the very places they volunteered at -- so the possibilities are fruitful.  The opportunities in the LA Fellows program are endless if you are willing to bring your 'A' game to the table because this is the perfect place for people who are out of work to let themselves shine again."

Mary Kimber networks her way to success

We are thrilled to announce that Mary Kimber of Cohort 1 has secured employment as a Business Development Associate at a local non-profit organization that provides the training and resources to create and sustain a highly-skilled worforce that contributes to local economic growth.

Using the networking skills she learned during her LA Fellows training, Mary stayed in constant contact with her colleagues and when a position opened up, she was the first person to know about this terrific job opportunity.  Networking is an essential skill for all job seekers and we commend Mary Kimber for learning that skill so well! 

Congratulations, Mary! 

Wendy Stackhouse transitions to Public Relations

We would like to congratulate Wendy Stackhouse from Cohort 2, who recently landed a position as a Media Relations Associate at a P.R. company that is a subsidiary of a large online marketing firm. 

After making the announcement about her new job, Wendy expressed her thanks to the staff, instructors and everyone involved with the LA Fellows Program. One of the class speakers at Cohort 2's graduation, and a frequent contributor to this blog, we feel certain Wendy will be a great success in her new industry.

Well done, Wendy!

Exciting News from Elsa Murillo

On Tuesday, we heard some fantastic news from Elsa Murillo of Cohort 2 that we couldn't wait to share.

Elsa secured employment in her targeted industry: Healthcare.  She will be working for a leading National laboratory services company that is focused on high science and innovative new products.

It is never easy to make a transition from one industry to another, but Elsa put in the hard work necessary to make this opportunity materialize.  We at the LA Fellows program celebrate this excellent news with her.

Congratulations Elsa!

Congrats to LA Fellow Nicholas Koutouras!

Nicholas Koutouras of Cohort 2 recently secured employment!  He is now a Senior Vice President, Financial Planning & Analysis Manager at a major National Bank.

Nick explained to his fellow cohort members that during his crucial last interview, the hiring manager wanted to know what he had been doing during his time off.  Without hesitating, and using the interview skills he had picked up during his training, Nick said that he had been taking part in the LA Fellows program.  He went on to talk about the volunteer commitment and how he was looking forward to helping out at the Los Angeles Ronald McDonald House.  The hiring manager was so impressed that he had been taking part in a development program that fostered volunteerism, that Nick said he believes being an LA Fellow really helped him to secure his new job.

Congratulations once again to Nick Koutouras!