Hire expectations: Jobs program works

The advertisement called it “the largest hiring event ever in the region focused on young men of color.” My reaction: Oh, really? Because I’ve become increasingly skeptical of community-based organizations claiming to help the underrepresented after reporting on another nonprofit that needed to get bailed out because of mismanagement. So I decided to follow up on the claim by the Bay Area Young Men of Color Employment Partnership.

Was this another muchhyped career fair that wouldn’t deliver on its promise?

Man, was I surprised by what I learned.

Of the 400 attendees who received career development services such as resume building, mock interviews and financial coaching on Oct. 17 at the Oakland Marriott City Center, 281 received job offers, according to the Bay Area Council, a public advocacy organization.

That’s means 70 percent of attendees walked out one step closer to a job.

It might not have been the largest hiring event ever, but the results of the summit are still remarkable.

The Bay Area Young Men of Color Employment Partnership, known as BAYEP, is a collaboration of five nonprofit organizations — the Bay Area Council, LeadersUp, PolicyLink, the United Way Bay Area and the Urban Strategies

Council — carving out paths for young men of color to get access to career opportunities.

When men of color do secure jobs, they’re at the bottom of the pay scale, according to the Bay Area Council. For example, in Oakland, the council’s data show that Latino men have the lowest per capita income at $16,635. Black men are the second lowest at $23,139.

Young men of color — black, Latino, Asian Pacific Islander and American Indian — ages 18 to 29 were invited to the career summit. There were more than 20 employers in attendance, including AT&T, United Airlines, San Francisco International Airport and Kaiser Permanente, who were ready to hire on the spot.

There was a free barbershop, so the young men could get a confidence boost with a fresh haircut before sitting for an interview. There was a tie bar where they were given free ties — and a tutorial on how to properly tie one.

They could even rent suits for their interviews.

“For the vast majority of companies that participated, there were a given number of open positions available in that company, and they did a number of interviews throughout the day for those open spots,” said Rachele Trigueros, a Bay Area Council policy manager.

This is what also surprised me about the career summit: There will be continued mentoring of the young men, because BAYEP isn’t simply focused on helping them land entry-level jobs. BAYEP wants them to have careers.

“We want these young people to not just get a job, but stay in and move up,” said Jeffery Wallace, the CEO of LeadersUp, a Los Angeles nonprofit focused on youth unemployment. “Our real work is retention, getting you past that 90 days and ensuring you have all the services necessary to stabilize and be successful.”

Wallace is a Richmond native. We talked about how hard it is for people of color to maintain a foothold in the Bay Area. He pointed out that black people moved to the Bay Area in World War II for economic mobility. But three generations later, the descendants of those who sought financial security by moving here can barely afford to stay in the neighborhoods they grew up in.

“It’s not affordable to live in the Bay Area metropolitan area, so we want to make sure that young people have a pathway to prosperity,” he said. “This is about ensuring that folks just don’t get jobs, but they have some sustainability.”

Ronnie Cornelius, 18, got his first job at the summit. Cornelius graduated from Oakland Tech High School in June, and said he wanted to work in a sales environment. Cornelius was hired to work in the men’s department at Bloomingdale’s in the Westfield San Francisco Centre.

He made the process of landing his first job sound easier than, well, strolling through the mall at Christmastime.

“I wasn’t really nervous,” he told me. “I knew I would go and get a job, because that’s what it was set up for.”

Work hard and stay confident, young man.

“Our real work is retention, getting you past that 90 days and ensuring you have all the services necessary to stabilize and be successful.” Jeffery Wallace, CEO of LeadersUp