Finding internships and jobs as a college student is a daunting task. Navigating how to put together a resume, write a cover letter and prepare for an interview can quickly feel overwhelming, especially as a foster youth or first generation student, who often have less access to resources and support systems.
Only 3% of the over 400,000 foster youth and only 11% of the estimated 1.46 million first-generation students in the US graduate college.
This is where Gina Ibrahim and Lucy Cherkasets of the non-profit Ready to Succeed (RTS) come in. Since 2016 the organization’s mission has been to provide career advising services as well as comprehensive support to help their students achieve their goals and succeed throughout college and life beyond.
Ibrahim is the organization’s Program Director, overseeing RTS’s team of career advisors and Cherkasets serves as Director of Opportunities and Volunteers whose job is to seek out career and internship opportunities for their students.
"Throughout their academic year, they work one on one with a career advisor on their individualized career plan," Ibrahim said. "We really tailor the program to what their specific career goal is and start kind of fast tracking the process of getting all the career foundations done, so resume, cover letter, interviewing, elevator pitch, networking, all that kind of stuff."
From there, Cherkasets and her team head up the internship and job search process.
"Once we know what exactly they’re looking for, the professionals that they can get in touch with, the different opportunities that exist as part of the RTS network… the ultimate goal is that we get them placed in a job within six months of their graduation," Ibrahim said.
Cherkasets said that internships are often key to being able to do this.
"We know, and the data shows, that you really need an internship experience to be a competitive candidate, especially in today’s world," she said. "We’re constantly thinking about how we can continue to help [our students] level up and how we can get them the competitive advantage, because everybody has one and so should our students and RTS is really providing them with that."
However, both Ibrahim and Cherkasets emphasized that for RTS’s career services to truly be effective they also have to ensure that the students are supported in other aspects of their lives.
"You cannot even start thinking about your career development if you have other things going on in your life, if you’re struggling academically or financially, socially or with your family relationships, all those kinds of things," Ibrahim said. "I think what really sets us apart is not through just the career stuff, it’s the holistic approach that we take with students and so, even though our team is made up of career advisors, we’re really kind of their academic advisors, their financial aid advisors, their adulting advisors, their life advisors – it’s really everything so that they feel supported and all those other areas in order to have the time or the mental capacity to even start thinking about their careers."
She added that RTS’s program supports students all throughout college and continues to maintain relationships with them after graduation. Cherkasets said many former RTS scholars are still involved in the organization in some way, including as career advisors, professional connections and even as members of their board. She said she feels that this is another one of RTS’s strengths.
"It’s so impactful for scholars to hear it from people who went through it, who went through the college experience, who went through the RTS experience, who went through the applying experience within the last three to five years," Cherkasets said.
RTS takes on a cohort of new scholars every year, typically first-years or sophomores, and Ibrahim said they are able to accept almost everyone who meets the qualifications. This year’s cohort will go through an orientation process over the summer and then get to work on making their goals a reality.
"They’ve been told their whole life, ‘no you can’t’ or that there are closed doors," Cherkasets said. "We say, ‘what’s your dream,’ ‘yes you can,’ ‘let us help you.’ It might not be easy but you can count on us."
To learn more about RTS visit: https://readytosucceedla.org/
Editor’s note: This article is part of a series highlighting the work of this local non-profit. To read the first article visit: https://smdp.com/2023/02/27/non-profit-ready-to-succeed-supports-local-foster-youth/
