For many New Yorkers navigating today’s tough job market, a secure role with a livable wage and opportunity for growth feels like a unicorn. But after almost seven years at Brooklyn Workforce Innovations (BWI), I can tell you those jobs exist, and you don’t need a fancy college degree or tons of experience to become a strong candidate.
As the program director for BWI’s KindWork Customer Experience Fellowship, I help bridge the gap between young New Yorkers with barriers to employment and the rapidly growing local tech industry. Launched in 2019, the fellowship offers a free seven-week hybrid training program designed to prepare young adults for successful upwardly mobile careers in tech customer experience through a combination of comprehensive technical and soft skills training, and wrap-around job placement support.
In the past five years, the program has enrolled 271 fellows and maintained a consistent post-program employment rate for graduates of over 80%. The key to its success is that it’s preparing students for life-long careers, not just their next job.
Young, working class New Yorkers are historically some of the first to be impacted by economic instability. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted high school and college for many young adults, so an overwhelming number of people in their twenties now lack the experience and confidence to make a career pivot – particularly one that feels as daunting as going from the service industry or retail to a career in technology.
Take Jose Cervantes, a 24-year-old Brooklyn native, who wasn’t able to complete his college degree due to the financial challenges of the pandemic. He was working as a barista and was overwhelmed by the competition for tech roles in the city. By targeting a customer service career in tech that doesn’t require STEM education, the fellowship KindWork presented Cervantes with a more accessible pathway into an industry he once thought was out of reach.
To prepare tech newcomers for life-long career success, the program goes beyond technical skills and credentials. It also teaches soft skills, provides overarching context to guide and inform graduates’ application and interview responses while job searching; and, once hired, eases the onboarding transition by establishing a foundation of industry terminology, core concepts and regulatory considerations.
College grads often have a leg-up when it comes to landing tech jobs, for reasons that go beyond the degree. Many have access to generational knowledge or a peer and professional network that prepares them for the job search process. KindWork seeks to recreate that for people without traditional educational backgrounds or for those who are often underrepresented in tech, with 90% of program participants identifying as people of color.
Instructors and mentors with industry experience meet trainees where they are and create a culture of empowerment and care as they navigate the job search. The fellowship also provides a peer support network, allowing trainees to lean on others who have similar career goals and trajectories. We encourage them to nurture this network by maintaining connections with alumni peers through Slack, LinkedIn, and in-person meetups— creating lifelong industry connections.
Crucially, KindWork doesn’t disappear after trainees graduate or find a role – we remain a resource in the long-term. We strongly believe that one-and-done skills development programs don’t work, which is all the more true given the volatility of today’s tech jobs market. Coaches offer real-time support to graduates who are in the midst of navigating career transitions or pursuing promotions, offering meetings to provide job transition guidance, such as how to keep their professional narratives fresh, or connecting them with alumni or industry events.
Helping young New Yorkers make career shifts has impacts beyond the individual. It enables entire families to break cycles of poverty, cultivate economic growth in the borough, keep talent local and make the tech industry more accessible. This work isn’t just important but essential in an increasingly digital world, so we can maintain the essence of our local communities and open doors to a brighter future.
Shani Watler, a Brooklyn native, is the program director at KindWork.
