Forty young people (ages 16-24) from all areas of the Bronx will graduate from an eight week Work Readiness program tonight given by nonprofit organization BronxConnect to help get them ready for jobs. These at-risk youth have been given the skills they need to be professional, cope with emotions at a job, create a resumé and ace an interview.
BronxConnect is a nonprofit community and faith-based program that offers alternative-justice, cure violence and re-entry programs to help communities build from within.
The New York community rallied to help. Bandana, a new job search website for hourly and entry-level workers based in Brooklyn, helped the young people search for jobs on their platform, edited their resumés, shared how to avoid job scams, and provided free headshots. These tools will help young professionals be prepared and feel empowered to succeed in their job search.
All jobs on Bandana are $17 and up and all full-time jobs have benefits. Bandana’s jobs are searchable by subway line, feature take home pay by week and by month, and link directly to employers’ websites, making landing jobs quicker and easier. One young man who searched for a job using Bandana during the team’s 45-minute seminar had two job interviews lined up by the end of the session, and a third came in a few days later!
To help all jobseekers, Bandana just introduced an easy way to create, auto-review and enhance your resume in under 10 minutes! Users can download, edit, and send resumés quickly and easily by customizing them in a flash.
BronxConnect’s Work Plus Graduation Dinner will be held tonight at Jimmy’s Grand Cafe in the Bronx and will feature live music. This event will commemorate the completion of the program and participants’ entry into the workforce. To encourage young people to attend the classes, they are paid $1,000. They are also set up with internships at Marriott Hotels, the Boys & Girls Club, Bronx House, Chocobar Cortéz, a Puerto Rican / Dominican restaurant in the South Bronx, and other companies, nonprofits and small businesses in the city.
Image captions:
- Members of the Bandana team hold a job search workshop for participants at BronxConnect;
- You can search for hourly and entry level jobs by subway line, take home pay, education level and more on Bandana;
- Bandana can help users spruce up their resumé in minutes.
Photography by: Bandana.
