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Ten years ago, Krista Buiting Cole walked into the pre-employment program classroom nervous and uncertain about her future. At age 40, with few job skills and more than a decade removed from a classroom, she was terrified.
“I had never touched a computer before that day,” she recalled. Today, as a reading room facilitator in the BWH Neuroradiology Department, she fields calls from all around the hospital and couldn’t be more thankful for the pre-employment program run by Partners in Career and Workforce Development (PCWD).
“This program changed my life and the life of my family,” Buiting Cole said.
PCWD celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2008 and continues to grow and make a difference to many in the community.
“This program has been so valuable over the years by giving people seeking a career in health care the tools they need to succeed,” said Cynthia Briggs, director of PCWD, which is operated jointly by Partners Community Benefit Programs and HR.
PCWD offers the pre-employment program four times per year and accepts about a dozen participants in each cycle. The program prepares them to work in the health care environment and covers HIPAA, customer service skills, managers’ expectations, resume development, mock interviewing and financial literacy.
The program originated in 1998 as Project RISE, a federally-funded program. Funds were cut a few years later, but Partners Community Benefit Programs and HR stepped in to continue funding the program.
“We saw this program as a win-win,” Briggs said. “It gives individuals a chance to better their lives, and it gives our organization candidates who are committed to the job.”
Over the decade, the program has trained more than 350 people, and 112 of them were hired at BWH. The program has undergone many positive changes as well, often based on feedback from participants and hiring managers that attribute to its long-running success. The program now runs for six weeks and includes an internship in the Partners system to give students a taste of everyday work. Today, more than 80 managers have offered to host PCWD participants.
Larry Wyche, BWH Radiology Imaging Operations manager, who hired Buiting Cole a decade ago, has been involved in the program by conducting tours, hosting interns, hiring candidates and referring interns to other managers for hire.
“This is such a great program that continues to provide us with strong individuals who are work-ready and committed to the BWH mission,” Wyche said. “I often encourage other managers to give program graduates a chance because I know they won’t be disappointed.”
This winter, the program will add four more participants to each class cycle, bringing the student total to 16. PCWD leaders are developing a way to help graduates of the program go back to school and earn a degree.
A few years ago, Buiting Cole shared her own success story with a graduating class of the pre-employment program.
“Don’t be afraid to try something new,” she said. “I took a chance and it changed my life.”