Women transitioning to the workforce from welfare or other poverty situations can gain financial literacy training and coaching and employment tips from Steps to Success: A Guide to Success in the Workplace.
This 64-page booklet is sponsored by Dress for Success and the National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE®).
“We created a financial education and work-survival skills resource book to assist and encourage low-income women to retain their jobs, develop a career, and learn how to responsibly manage their finances in order to become self-sufficient,” said Mary J. Schultz, project manager for NEFE’s Collaborative Programs department.
The booklet contains 10 chapters about preparing for a new job; dressing for success; communicating in an office and maintaining confidentiality; understanding the written and unwritten rules of the workplace; managing wages, budgets, and spending; mapping a job path; and networking. Checklists and worksheets take the user through various office and personal finance scenarios, and resources about self-sufficiency, mentoring, and education and job training are provided.
According to Schultz, the resource book is part of a larger initiative, titled the “Steps to Success” program. This three-part program, Schultz explained, “assists Dress for Success clients during the first 30 days of entering the workplace by identifying and addressing barriers to successful employment.”
“The first 30 days of employment are the most crucial for an employee as she transitions into a new work environment,” Schultz said. This is because during this initial employment period, the new employee often encounters unique and stressful work-related obstacles sometimes resulting in the loss of that job.
The NEFE/Dress for Success collaboration has been a hit. Schultz said that 100,000 copies of the booklet were initially printed, and Dress for Success is already clamoring for more copies.
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