Stay-at-home moms — and veterans — often face huge challenges when trying to return to the workforce.
Many employers mistakenly view them as unemployable or undesirable because of their so-called employment gaps.
But the Minneapolis office of the IT-consulting firm York Solutions has successfully launched a new initiative — called the Barriers to Entry Program (B2E) — designed to help veterans, stay-at-home moms and others prepare for and secure work in IT project management.
And — here’s the amazing part — no prior information technology experience is required and participants begin getting paid a salary ($15 per hour) when their training begins.
The program starts with a three-week intensive training program and continues with mentoring, coaching, career advice, business communication training and an opportunity to join York’s consulting practice.
According to the employment website Glassdoor.com, the average salaries for IT project management consultants and IT project managers in Minneapolis-St. Paul are $71,000 and $93,000, respectively.
B2E, which hosted its first Twin Cities training in November, already has helped 18 people gain IT employment.
That includes mother of two Nora Gottwalt of Savage. Even with a college degree in computer science and eight years working in various IT positions for companies such as Fingerhut and AT&T Wireless, she was unable re-enter the workforce recently because of the 13 years she took to raise her children.
Another recent graduate of the program is Dee Hampton (pictured above), a single mother of six from St. Paul.
When Hampton came to the program, she’d worked a variety of jobs for 29 years. But she’d always struggled to make ends meet, despite having secured full-time positions in retail and corporate banking.
Today Hampton and Gottwalt, both graduates of the program, are employed by 3M in Maplewood — Hampton as an IT consultant and Gottwalt as an IT project coordinator.
Learn more, including the details about the next round of paid IT training, at yorksolutions.net/services.
