Once you’ve finished your training and earned your certifications, you’re qualified for a great career, but you’ve still got to put your best foot forward to impress employers. Fortunately, Per Scholas has a team of amazing Career Advancement professionals with years of experience and knowledge to share with Per Scholas students and graduates.

Prior to working at Per Scholas, Diahan Collins worked for JPMorgan as a Team Leader in the Operations Customer Service Department for eight years. She also worked for Young Adult Institute (YAI) as an Employment Training Specialist and Family Service Specialist for over three years, and for FedCap Rehabilitation Services as Job Preparation and Placement Coordinator for a year. Now she helps prepare Per Scholas students for the job market as a Career Advancement Manager in Brooklyn. We asked her to share the most important advice for Per Scholas graduates to remember as they set out to land their next position. Here’s what she said: 

1) Make sure your resume is tailored to the position that you are applying for. Review the job description and key requirements carefully.

2) Make sure you are networking more than you are applying for jobs online. That is, interface with potential individuals who can lead you to an opportunity. Don’t forget about the folks who are already employed in your field. They can be a great help in your job search!

3) Don’t forget about the company that you desire to work for. Go directly to their website and apply.

4) When utilizing LinkedIn, make sure your profile is free of typos and your presentation is professional.

5) Effective tracking tools will help you organize your job search. Keep notes of the companies you have applied for, agencies you have registered with, number of interviews, references, and professional networks.

6) Your Career Coach and the Business Solutions Team are here to assist in your job search.

7) Don’t give up! The more No’s you get will bring you closer to your Yes.

Per Scholas is known across the country for its reputable workforce development model. Technical training, career advancement, and supplying a diverse workforce for the tech sector have become synonymous with the national nonprofit. But nearly two decades ago, Per Scholas was better known for its IT asset reconditioning.

In 1995, Per Scholas got its start by collecting used computers and recycling them to give to families and schools. There was even a retail store operated out of the Bronx, NY office which sold and repaired discounted tech equipment. As Per Scholas’ mission shifted from refurbishing computers to opening doors to technology careers, its asset recovery efforts changed too.

“We’ve consistently adjusted and improved our process for the better, in response to numerous industry requirements and specific client needs,” says ZuQuan Rooks, Director of Social Ventures.

Today, Per Scholas partners with a handful of vetted and highly-qualified recyclers to outsource its IT asset recovery services. The e-Steward, R2 and ISO-certified recycler Liquid Technology, has become a Champion Partner of the organization. Six years ago, Liquid Technology began hiring Per Scholas graduates and donating computer hardware, which led to a positive and mutually-beneficial relationship.

“Liquid Technology is highly pivotal in delivering this important business solution to many of our client-partners,” Rooks says. “Any revenue generated from valuable retired hardware goes toward our important social mission. We proudly share with our partners the specific impact of their material support and use of our asset recovery services.”

Brenda Rodriguez, Manager of Social Ventures, handles communications with clients, coordinates logistics, and manages Per Scholas’ relationship with recycling partners, such as Liquid Technology. “We’ve had to become more selective about which donations we are able to accept,” Brenda says about all the donation offers she gets on a daily basis. She adds, “Although any donation offers are appreciated, not all are beneficial to our mission.” We are careful to ensure that the related costs inherent with their collection do not outweigh the value and volume of the donated equipment.”

On behalf of Per Scholas, Liquid Technology audits, tests and re-markets any hardware that has residual value, and recycles all obsolete hardware in an environmentally-responsible manner. When it comes to the recycling of retired tech equipment, Eric DeRosa, Director of Sales, Liquid Technology, rhetorically adds, “Since responsible e-waste management is a bonafide business solution which companies are legally required to do anyway, why not make sure it’s performed in a compliant manner and supports a good cause?”

Since industry standards and requirements for legal compliance have grown tremendously, Per Scholas urges companies to put their hardware in highly-qualified hands. Fox Sports, Mastercard International, Ford Foundation, IRS, Montefiore Medical Systems, Queens Library System and Amazon.com, among others, have trusted Per Scholas with the handling of their retired IT assets.

Last year Liquid Technology, among others, helped Per Scholas recycle 139,490 pounds of equipment. That’s 732,581 total pounds of carbon emissions that were prevented from entering Earth’s atmosphere. That’s equivalent to 1,061,712 plastic bottles!

Although Per Scholas administrates its asset recovery business out of its New York office, the Social Ventures team works with and constantly seeks national and global clientele. If your company would like Per Scholas to collect and process its retired tech equipment to directly benefit motivated, yet under-served technology students, please email ZuQuan Rooks at zrooks@perscholas.org for more information.

Over one hundred community members, nonprofit and business leaders, and Per Scholas students and alumni celebrated Per Scholas Dallas’ grand opening on June 28th. The brand new facility in downtown Dallas will allow Per Scholas to train hundreds of students a year and grow a diverse, overlooked talent pipeline for area employers.

Community leaders, Ty Bledsoe, Vice President of External Affairs, AT&T and Scott Seeliger, Local and State Corporate and Government Affairs Lead from Cognizant spoke to the strengths and opportunities for partnership. In addition, Per Scholas graduate, Tara Fuller, let the crowd know that progress is a process; her story of self-determination and training at Per Scholas provided a launch-pad that will support her growing career, and ultimately her family.

“I was so inspired by Per Scholas, it has impacted my life so much. It even impacted me emotionally, because when you go through a storm, and all of our storms are different, the impact is the same. You start to feel less than. You start to feel like you’re not worth anything. You start to see life from the darker side.” 

“I think Per Scholas shed a light on my life emotionally, spiritually, and mentally, so much so that I re-enrolled in school for IT. I currently have an associates degree in IT, and I’m continuing to pursue my bachelors in computer science. Per Scholas has played a key role in where I currently am. I’m thankful that my salary has surpassed where I was before. I was able to buy a house and pay off some debt. We’re still a work in progress, but my family has definitely felt the impact of Per Scholas.”      

Thank you to our local and national partners in Dallas and our local advisory board members who have paved the way for informed curriculum, local hiring networks, and relationships that allow our graduates to thrive in the industry.

Release:     For Immediate Release: 06.28.2018

Contact:     Jake McIntosh, Director, Strategic Communications
                  jmcintosh@perscholas.org – 978.578.6821

Overview:   National workforce development nonprofit Per Scholas celebrates the grand opening of its new state-of-the-art training facility in Dallas. The 10,000+ sq ft. space will expand training opporuntites in Dallas to more than 200 Per Scholas students annually. Per Scholas Dallas features five dynamic classrooms, three of which are dedicated to Per Scholas core programs and the flagship course, IT Support, which includes certifications in CompTIA A+ and Net+. Per Scholas prides itself on developing talent from overlooked communities and preparing individuals from these communities for careers in technology. In addition to the rigorous tech training provided,  students are offered career coaching and professional development on the interview process and how to best market themselves for career opportunities with prospective employers.

The two other classrooms offer Platform by Per Scholas courses, including Software Support (Application Support Management) and Quality Engineering.  Platform by Per Scholas’ customized training tracks put students in direct hiring pipelines with major technology employers, as an extension of the Per Scholas workforce development model. The courses are offered in partnership with Cognizant, a Per Scholas Champion partner. Platform students receive tuition-free, hands-on training, career development resources and interview opportunities with technology employers to help take their career to the next level. 

The evening event is hosted at the Per Scholas Dallas site, 211 N Ervay St, Suite #700, Dallas, TX 75201, from 6pm-8pm. There will also be a site tour and tech demos from current Per Scholas students, as well as a keynote speaker, Ty Bledsoe, Vice President, External Affairs  from Per Scholas Champion Partner AT&T, who will be speaking to the evidence-based outcomes that Per Scholas is bringing to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“We are thrilled to open our doors to even more students in the Dallas Fort-Worth Area” says Stephanie Valadez, Managing Director, Per Scholas. “The opportunity to increase our course offerings, classroom capabilities and career coaching services will deepen our impact for businesses and the community. Partnerships make this possible, and our local and national supporters are driving the future tech workforce right here in Dallas.”

“As a global company that is on the front lines of innovation, AT&T is constantly thinking about what the workforce of the future – and our future employees – will need to succeed. That’s why we are teaming up with Per Scholas to support the opening of the new innovative training facility here in Dallas, which will equip students in our community for jobs in tech.” – Ty Bledsoe, vice president, external affairs, AT&T. 

About Per Scholas

Per Scholas is a national nonprofit that drives positive and proven social change in communities across the country. Through rigorous and tuition-free technology training and professional development, we prepare motivated and curious adults who are unemployed or underemployed for successful careers as IT professionals, and we create onramps to businesses in need of their talents. Today we provide our solutions in six cities across the country: Atlanta, GA; Greater Cincinnati, OH; Columbus, OH; Dallas, TX; the National Capital Region; and New York. To date, Per Scholas has trained 7,000 individuals, helping them build lasting, life changing skills and careers in technology.

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Per Scholas was honored to have two of our Platform by Per Scholas cohorts graduate in New York and Dallas during the month of May. In addition to 21 graduates in our New York Data Engineering class, we had 10 graduates obtain jobs upon graduation, three of which were hired by Platform as instructors and teaching assistants, and seven of which have been hired by firms like Learnvest and Infosys.

Dallas’ inaugural Platform cohort was a great success with 86% of enrolled students graduating, and 50% of those graduates being woman that are ready to start a career in technology. Not to be out done by New York, Dallas also had 4 students hired immediately after graduation. Thank you to our partners Cognizant, MAKE Corporation, Southwest Airlines, and Aspire Business Solutions for seeing the value that determined Per Scholas graduates can bring to their organizations.

A perfect example of a determined Per Scholas Graduate is Greg Finnell. Greg is the person in the family that can fix anything. “I am kind of like a jack of all trades,” he says. “If a computer was broken, or a router was not working — I was the guy my family would call on to fix it.”

Born and raised in Texas, Greg moved to Houston to pursue a degree in Business Management. Greg says he understood that a degree would provide him flexibility, but he had trouble sitting through classes, and with the increasing cost of education he decided to leave after earning his Associate’s Degree.

Greg spent a period of time working in a low wage customer service job. After hearing comments that “without a four year degree, it would be hard to find more advanced positions.” Greg realized that “I didn’t want to be working next to a fifteen year-old kid who would be making the same wages as me, and that’s when I started looking into certifications. I knew that technical jobs paid more than customer service.”

Like many students, Greg thought that Per Scholas was fake: “I thought it was a lie – but then I thought – if it is true then it can’t hurt.” Greg enrolled in Per Scholas’ entry level IT Support course and earned himself an A+ Certification. After 10 weeks of training he was immediately hired as a Help Desk Support for a technology consulting firm and doubled his yearly income. Greg says, “after I got my A+ certification, it opened up the door for me it, it was life changing and put a fire under me and made me start studying and working even harder.”

Greg continued to work nighttime Monday through Thursday from 8pm-7am, and took another job on the weekends at the baggage claim with American Airlines on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On his own time he studied for additional certifications, earning three in January and February, and eventually earning his Net+ certification in March.

During that period, Per Scholas reached out to alumni about a new training opportunity with Platform by Per Scholas, a customized training track teaching an Application Support Management course in Dallas. This was a perfect upskilling opportunity for Greg, and offered customer solutions training, project management skills and advanced coding knowledge, all skills he needed in order to advance in the industry. He enrolled in the course, and continued to work nights and weekends. “It was a challenging time, and I did not have much sleep, but I was going to succeed. My dream is to make six figures in my lifetime to support myself, my partner and my family.”

Platform by Per Scholas upskills individuals with previous backgrounds in technology. Greg was able to leverage his IT Support course and working experience at Cognizant to begin learning new skills including several coding languages. “Platform was teaching new information that opened the door for my career. Companies in Dallas are trying to re-train their current employees on new languages and technologies that Platform is already teaching. All of these companies are moving towards ITIL languages, skills I had already learned at Platform.”

Before graduation, Greg was contacted by a hiring team from Southwest Airlines. Within a week he was hired as a Senior Service Desk Technician at $28/hr, nearly three times the salary he was earning before he found Per Scholas. “They found my resume online, noticed that I was going for multiple certifications, that I was a hard worker and that I wanted to continue to learn, and they hired me just like that.”

When asked about the future Greg says “I really like the technical side of these jobs. It gives me a lot of energy and I want to continue to grow. I have a love for travel and like seeing new places. I’ve got some great trips planned for myself and my partner– Paris, Rome and London are on the list!”

On April 10th, 2018 Per Scholas President & CEO, Plinio Ayala, was invited to speak on a workforce solutions panel to an audience of legislators, congressional staff and business. North Carolina Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, Chair of the House Committee on Education and Workforce and fellow Illinois committee member Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, invited Per Scholas and Apprenticeship Carolina to present innovative workforce models backed by compelling evidence.

The afternoon event, organized by Results for America, treated legislators to a showing of Solutions to America’s Workforce Crisis, a recently premiered documentary, featuring Per Scholas as an evidence-based model increasing income and reducing public assistance for graduates. The film and panel asked lawmakers to consider investments in workforce organizations that are proving impact.

“There has never been a time in our country with so many organizations that have proven social impact, and yet the amount of government spending on these programs is at an all time low” says Plinio Ayala speaking to the room.

Per Scholas’ model is heralded for its innovative approach to serving employers as the primary customer and leveraging wrap-around support services for students using an expansive community network. One Congressional staffer asked what set the model apart. “We work directly with employers to offer feedback on the curriculum we develop. We have staff onsite who can speak the same language as the technical and hiring teams. We are not working with HR departments at these companies, we are working with hiring decision makers, the managers, the supervisors” said Plinio.

Per Scholas has recently launched a series of customized training partnerships that put students in direct hiring pipelines with major technology employers. The customized training offers free hands on skills, career development resources and interview opportunities with leading tech companies. This model is an extension of Per Scholas’ mission to identify local, diverse talent and open the doors to fulfilling careers within the IT workforce.