Page 52 - Careers & Stuff 2021

Becoming More Employable
DELAWARE NONPROFITS HELP JOB SEEKERS AND CAREER CHANGERS BUILD THEIR SKILLS
The skills to work in a job are not necessarily the skills to land that job. Several Delaware nonprofits are providing training in both.
“I can genuinely say I would not have made it through my interview without their coaching,” says Holly Chaffee, a former elementary school teacher from Newark. She recently completed a six- month coding course with Wilmington- based nonprofit Code Differently and landed a job as a customer support specialist with HubSpot. The people
at Code Differently provided her with individual coaching on everything from her online presence to her resume. She says they cared about everything from her technical knowledge to her mental health.
Code Differently was founded to increase diversity in technology for people of all ages. Glenn Jackson II
BY KIM HOEY
was almost finished with his Code Differently software engineering training when his son, in Georgia, came down with COVID-19. Jackson left to care for him, thinking he probably just ruined his chances. Instead, the founders of the program, Stephanie Eldridge and Tariq Hook, worked with him, and sent him links to job opportunities and training to keep him job ready. He now works for HX Innovations, a software company specializing in sports medicine, and spends his down time cheerleading for Code Differently.
“Tariq and Stephanie are the best part of Code Differently,” he says. “It was awesome.”
Job Training and Soft Skills
“We hear from employers saying that soft skills are so important,” says Patrick Callihan, executive director of ITWorks,
a nonprofit providing free, immersive IT training programs to young adults (high-achieving high school graduates, 18-26), who have not moved on to college.
At least 20% of the ITWorks 16-week program is rooted in those skills. Each student gets a mentor to work with on emotional, intellectual and practical aspects of getting a job and working
in an office. Students also spend five weeks as interns to practice their abilities.
Zip Code Wilmington is a 12-week coding boot camp program open to all. The average age of their participants is 35. This program differs from some other nonprofits in that it charges $12,000. Participants must pay $6,000 up front, but there are scholarships and stipends available. The last $6,000 is usually paid by the company that
50 CAREERS & STUFF | DelawareBusinessTimes.com
FOR CAREER CHANGERS