Finding a good job can be tough, especially if you lack the proper training. The North Omaha Development Project is offering a program to help get people the necessary training.
Those who live in areas with the zip codes 68104, 68110, 68111, 68112 and 68152 are eligible and can get applications online or pick them up at the Blue Lion Centre.
The positions available are with Mutual of Omaha and Blue Cross and Blue Shield, with starting pay around $28,000 a year.
Tuesday was a busy day for the call center at Blue Cross and Blue Shield where more, qualified workers are needed. "Anything else I can do for you today?" Dionne Whitfield says the pay and benefits are good. "I started off as a customer service rep and currently I moved up to what's called group leader."
You can't just walk into a career here, it takes months of training, but through this program with the North Omaha Development Project, 50 people will get an opportunity they likely would not have had.
"They'll be trained in taking phone calls and background, they'll be taking information on insurance," says NODP Executive Director Ed Cochran.
It's a pilot program, starting with customer service positions in the insurance industry. Goodwill Industries will recruit applicants over the next month and they'll train for five months at Metro Community College to qualify to be in the final group hired.
"That's the focus of Goodwill Industries is helping people develop some of those communication skills, those adaptive skills, those workplace learning skills so they can move up the ladder," says Blue Cross Blue Shield President Steve Martin.
Whitfield was promoted from customer service rep to group leader in a little more than a year and she's glad her company is helping others who wouldn't normally have the opportunities she's had. "It more or less will broaden their horizons and give them a different outlook."
Living in north Omaha, she knows what a difference this training program could make. "Make them feel more worthwhile instead of just feeling like they're stuck somewhere and don't feel like they're going to accomplish anything."
The customer service program is recruiting applicants until August 15th. Those selected will train between September and January, then the hiring process will begin.
Program organizers are planning an expansion into the technology and construction businesses as well.