On Friday, February 13th, 16 members of our latest training cohort graduated from the program and got one step closer to landing jobs as valet drivers with one of the largest parking management companies in North America. During the two-week session, the group learned valuable lessons in customer service, job interviews, financial responsibility, and resume writing.
During graduation, participants routinely go through a “vision exercise,” where they choose from a collection of photos to represent where they were before the program, where they are now, and where they hope to be in the future.
Going into the program, the participants were unemployed for an average of 17 months. Thanks to WPSI, our graduates have already received 71 callbacks for interviews, and have scheduled 35 interviews. We hope they will land positions with the parking company, working primarily at CHOP and uPenn soon.
During the graduation, we asked the participants to share what they learned. Here are some of their responses:
- “Confidence. I really didn’t think i was capable of getting a good job.”
- “I learned to smile more!”
- “Your resume really is the most important document you’re ever going to have. My better resume made a big difference in my job search.”
- “Once you get focused on what you want to achieve, you can get it.”
- “You can put people in a group, even if they come from different backgrounds, they can learn to work together as a unit.”
Congratulations again to all the graduates, and best of luck in the future!
