Financial Services Job Training and Placement Program
This program is Certified and Funded by the Mayors Office of Workforce Development (MOWD).
Based on the growth and need of African-American and Hispanic citizens for financial service assistance, the number of professionals available to the needs of this population by comparison, is small. The financial services industry is well aware of the problem it faces in recruiting and retaining minority employees. Statistics show that over 50% of recruits leave the industry, particular in sales oriented careers, by the end of the first year of employment.
The Home of Life Financial Services Program (HLFSP), under the auspices of Home of Life Community Development Corporation HLCDC, is recruiting, training and placing two-hundred (200) persons annually, to enter the following financial services fields:
1. Insurance
2. Real Estate
3. Mortgage/Banking
The HLFSP program accomplishes this by:
1. Identifying, through a professional assessment process, two-hundred (200) candidates for the training programs.
2. Train each candidate in:
a. Job Orientation/Life Readiness skills
b. Basic skills in the field of their choice
3. Involve each candidate in a mentoring program with the industry of their choice, i.e., Insurance, Banking or Real Estate.
4. Assist candidates in successfully completing any required licensing
5. Involve each candidate who chooses a sales oriented career in a one week intensive sales training class.
6. Upon successful completion of the program, assist each candidate in securing employment
For those candidates who wish to enter an Industrial field, HLCDC has agreements to train and place candidates with a number of companies. Candidates are selected from economically depressed communities referred by area Churches, Social Service Organizations, the Latin-American Chamber of Commerce, City Colleges, the NAACP, the Urban League and City and State Employment Agencies.
The program has two locations: 4650 West Madison Street that will serve the African-American Community and 2842 West Cermak Road that will serve the Hispanic Community.
The program is especially designed for the under employed or unemployed who are seeking a career.
Though focused to serve economically depressed areas, the program is open to any person seeking employment in the financial service industry or the industrial field.
Citizens who reside in the target area are faced with serious deficits in education and unemployment. These areas are socially, educationally and economically deprived and have large segments of the population that are under the age of 18. The education achievement levels are low and crime levels continue to increase. A large percentage of these low-income students often begin working during high school to give financial support to their families and in many cases to their own children. These young people tend to get in a cycle of poverty with little understanding of how to break it. The selected target areas for the applicant program are the communities of Austin, West Town.
The Chicago Tribune reported in an article entitled “American Millstone” that in North Lawndale one in every two people were on welfare; three of every five potential workers were unemployed, and the median family income was $8,648. To further demonstrate the need for our program, statistics show that of the 17,185 families surveyed by The Bureau of Census in 1990, females headed 41% and 32% had an annual income of less than $7,500. The median education was 10.8 years of school. Of the 41,809 people in the labor pool 17,541 were employed, 4,220 were unemployed but seeking jobs, 20,048 were unemployed but no longer seeking jobs. The report stated that 31,739 individuals were receiving public assistance in the North Lawndale.
Since 1996, public welfare assistance has been drastically reduced, quality and affordable housing has declined even more by 50%, jobs and job training opportunities have not increased nor become more accessible, and the education achievement levels have declined below the 10.8 mark.
The financial services industry now considers the minority market as the next major growth market. This market has been ignored for many decades receiving peripheral services often provided by under-staffed agencies or firms through under-paid, over worked employees. Insurers offered inflated rates, realtors steered minority families away from so-called “prime property” and branch and local/neighborhood banks were too few to properly serve the communities where they were located.
This underserved market has now become the survival strategy for the next several decades for the financial services industry.
Since the attention is now being placed on this market, there is a need for employees who come from the target communities. However, the financial services industry has stringent requirements that one must meet in order to enter into the industry, especially regarding sales personnel. The Illinois Insurance Department, for example, has specific requirements that a person must meet in order to become licensed.
The HLFSP will provide exceptional quality training and placement to qualified candidates which will result in candidates receiving a license/credential in the field of their choice.
Goals/Outcomes Objectives
To recruit, train, and place candidates in financial services occupations. Specifically:
· To prepare candidates with the necessary skills needed for applying for a position, completing a job application, writing a resume and interviewing
· To motivate and embed knowledge to qualified candidates to perform hands on and succeed in one of the financial services occupations
· Prepare candidates with the necessary skills needed for long-term success
· To have candidates become licensed or credentialed in one of the financial services occupations
· To successfully place candidates in jobs at reputable companies
· To empower interested candidates to start their own business
The program will be responsible for placing candidates with major insurance companies banks and real estate agencies. We will work to enhance existing relationships with the Financial Services Industry and build and maintain new ones. The training program will provide our students with preparation for licensure and certification as well as exposure. Candidates will be referred from various City agencies and surrounding areas. Each training area, insurance, real estate and banking, will consist of an eight, ten and thirteen week class/program respectively plus two weeks of orientation. This is an equal opportunity program. However, the focus is to recruit and train candidates from the African-American and Hispanic communities. All applicants will be screened and tested during the assessment process which includes drug screening and a background check.
Begin making a difference and call 773-626-8655
info@homeoflife.org