“I’m meeting all the different customers, and I’m really loving my team and growing with them,” Dominique said of her new job.
Dominique is now working as Retail Banker II for TD Bank, but earlier this year she was looking for work. While attending a City of Charlotte hiring event at the Goodwill Opportunity Campus in March, she met Employer Engagement Specialist Julie Salinas who told her about BankWork$, Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont’s training program that prepares participants for a career in the banking industry.
Since the Charlotte region is the second-largest banking center in the nation, home to more than 91,000 financial services jobs and has no other workforce development programs dedicated to the finance industry, in 2023 Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont partnered with Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) and CareerWorks to expand its training division to offer the BankWork$ program.
“[Julie] told me that application was opening for BankWork$ in April. So, I looked into it because she said it was paid, it was free, and I applied,” Dominique said.
BankWork$ is an eight-week intensive training program that gives participants the skills, access and coaching needed to succeed and grow in banking careers. Participants learn about the financial services workplace, bank regulations, bank products, cash handling, processing customer transactions and more.
“What I am is like a universal banker. I do the telework. I also foster opening and maintaining business accounts and regular personal accounts,” Dominique explained of her new role.
When taking one of Goodwill’s tuition-free training programs, participants are assigned an Employer Engagement Specialist and Career Navigator who help them with their resume, interview preparation and more.
“She felt like I was very prepared already, and that definitely gave me the confidence I needed to go ahead and not wait to the end of the program to start applying,” Dominique said when speaking of her Career Navigator, Angela Mercer.
Dominique is no stranger to Goodwill. In addition to being a graduate of the nonprofit’s training program, she was already a supporter. Earlier this year, she purchased her bridal gown at the nonprofit’s annual Bridal Pop-Up Sale that she will wear at her nuptials in 2025!
Training programs like the one Dominique took are available free of charge to the community, thanks to shopping and donating at Goodwill’s 36 retail locations and more than 40 donation sites, in addition to corporate, community and philanthropic donations. If you would like to help fund Goodwill’s programs and services that we offer to the community free of charge – like the ones that helped Dominique on her pathway to prosperity – consider dropping off your gently used donations at one of our locations or making a financial contribution.
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