Championing “non-traditional” candidates through transferable skills. 

Episode Transcript

Kelly: [00:00:00] You’re listening to Let’s Talk About Skills, Baby. I’m Kelly Ryan Bailey, and this season we’re talking all about The Great Resignation. The global pandemic disrupted so much for so many, and one of the largest effects has been on where, when, why, and how we make a living.

We’re taking a look at why people have been shifting jobs, paths, and careers at such an accelerated rate and how leaders from different industries are navigating this challenging time. Hope you enjoy this episode .

 Hey skills nerds, with me today is Chandra Sanders. Chandra is the Director for RISE, the inaugural initiative from The Mom Project’s not-for-profit arm, momproject.org.

Her goal is to empower moms and women of color through transformative upskilling programs. Thank you so much for joining us today, Chandra.

Chandra: Thank you for [00:01:00] having me.

Kelly: So excited to get into this discussion. I’d love to start off with what led you to The Mom Project and why do you do what you do?

Chandra: Wow. What led me to The Mom Project? Well I had been working as a Senior Consultant for Cognizant for the last almost five years. However, there were many layoffs during the pandemic, right? 2.1 million women left the workforce either by choice or by force. And I’m one of those who left by force.

I was laid off. But, that’s how I found The Mom Project. I was looking for my next opportunity. I knew that I didn’t want to sacrifice being a mom for my next opportunity. I knew that I wanted a workplace that would accept me for who I am, accept me for everything that I can bring to the table authentically and also would allow me to have the flexibility of being a mom, working, earning an income while taking care of my kids who are doing remote learning.

While just being able to live and integrate my work and my life. That’s [00:02:00] how I found The Mom Project and me being laid off, I found The Mom Project and secured a job within three weeks because, I had skills.

Kelly: That’s absolutely amazing. So before we keep going there, I’d love to know, I’m a mom too, how many kids do you have?

Chandra: I have three kids, aged 18, 11, and 4. So they’re all like, it’s like every seven years it seemed like I had a kid. So that can’t happen again. But yes, I do have three, I’m a mom of three.

Kelly: That’s amazing. I have three as well, so I totally feel you there. It is a lot of work and trying to do professional work and also do that is a whole thing. So now when you found your way to The Mom Project, what has really fired up? I mean, it’s sort of fascinating that not only did you go through this transition through this time, but the work that you’re doing there is helping others go through professional transitions or find their way in their journey. What really powers you up about this?[00:03:00]

Chandra: So I am from Louisiana. I could barely make over $50,000 having a master’s degree, working in tech, I couldn’t make enough money to take care of my family. I packed my bags and I moved to the Bay area because I knew that I was passionate about tech. And I knew that if I wanted true tech experience, I needed to go to the hub, to the Mecca, where I could get the exposure and the experience that I needed, as well as find the income that I needed to be able to take care of my family and be happy.

I wanted to recreate that magic for other women in this program. I was laid off, but thank God I was able to secure a job at The Mom Project three weeks later and I didn’t really have suffer for long.

And I just really want to have that impact and have other women be able to be transformed, transformed theirselves, their inside self as well as their career. Because it worked for me. I used to be a high school Spanish teacher, a long, [00:04:00] long, long time ago, but I successfully transitioned to leading product development at multiple Fortune 100 companies.

And so I just really want to make that happen for a lot of the other women out there that don’t really have the network, don’t have the connections, and don’t have the skills, and just don’t know where to start.

Kelly: That is amazing. Through this transition, is there one skill that was really valuable in terms of finding your way to The Mom Project and moving forward with this new job?

Chandra: So it has to start with the growth mindset, right? Knowing that whatever challenge I’m facing, I can go over it. I don’t put limitations around myself. I want to live life without boundaries.

And so having that growth mindset just allows me to look at all the possibilities. Right? However, with looking at all those possibilities, I’m also gaining skills so that I can continue to be competitive and find jobs that I want and not have to fit into somebody else’s box.

Kelly: Growth mindset is made up of a ton of different skills that are really [00:05:00] important in terms of how you might approach a challenging moment in your life.

So I think that would be really helpful for everyone to hear. So, let’s jump into RISE. I mean, mostly I’d love for you just to give our listeners an overview about what this initiative is, where did it come from? How did you get involved in this?

Let’s start there first.

Chandra: So, yes, I was hired at The Mom Project to create this re-skilling/up-skilling scholarship program for mothers and for women of color. Me being a mom and a woman of color who has successfully up-skilled myself without a program, I kind of know what it takes to be successful. Like I said before, I started my career a long time ago as a high school Spanish teacher, but made a few transitions to be able to lead product development.

So RISE is a scholarship program, but it’s so much more than that. We understand that it’s not just a certificate that’s going to give these women, these moms, these women of color, a leg up.

It is the confidence that they bring to the interview. It is just the way they are [00:06:00] able to sell themselves in an interview with how they feel about themselves. So it’s a truly transformative upskilling program. It’s not just about the certificate. Also what separates us and what differentiates us from other upskilling programs out there, is the support component.

 Moms, women of color are always supporting everyone else and there’s no one there to support us. So we are able to provide them the support that they need, whether that’s resume optimization, LinkedIn optimization, having one-on-one conversations with them if they’re feeling kind of down and out throughout this process. I myself am a single mom who has been through, I don’t know everything.

And so also, you know, my team, right? I want to make sure that the team that I have is extremely diverse so that we are really able to reach these ladies and connect with these ladies on all sorts of levels. Because again, some of the women in this program have lost their jobs. They’ve lost their husbands due to COVID. They’ve lost their self-worth. And it is so [00:07:00] hard to remain positive throughout all of this when you’re trying to be positive for your family, so they don’t know what’s going on.

So again, that’s what this program is all about. Yes, we have the certificate programs, but it’s so much more than that. We’re truly transforming them from the inside out to be able to be their best selves and showcase that to the world.

Kelly: I mean, that really actually just touched my heart because again this is something that I have personally been through. And so I do know, you know, you’re trying to keep that face on for your kids, you’re trying to do the right thing. There’s a lot of things that are going on that can really get to you.

I love that you guys are thinking about, and you using your own experience here, thinking about the other services that women may need, that moms may need, through this transition period. It’s not just about finding the certificate. It’s not just about finding the job. There’s so much more that comes into that.

And to me, what you’re describing is you’re transforming lives, not only their professional journey.[00:08:00] So what was it about skills that you guys really felt like would provide this mobility and accessibility for women?

Chandra: Definitely. The skills are extremely important, right? We have six certification programs right now.

We wanted to ensure that whatever we are offering to these ladies is something that they could do part-time. Because we don’t have a lot of time, moms don’t have a lot of time. So, we are only asking that they dedicate 10 to 15 hours a week to this program. But also something that’s not going to take forever for them to complete.

So they can complete these programs in either six weeks to six months, depending on the program of their choice. Also the programs that we’re offering, UX design, project management, data analytics, IT support, all of these are skills that are not just relevant today, but will be relevant in 10 years from now.

And if you don’t have a technical or a digital certificate right now, I don’t know where you’re going to be in 10 years. So we want to make sure that what we’re offering these ladies is [00:09:00] something that can benefit them, not just today, but also in the future.

Kelly: So, thinking about this, and I know a lot about The Mom Project, but I’m recognizing that our listeners might not know. So before I even asked my next question, which has to do a little bit about how you would know what certificates or what skills employers are interested in, I think it would make a lot of sense for our listeners to hear what is The Mom Project?

Chandra: Yes, The Mom Project is a digital talent marketplace. We are in the business of connecting mothers, women to a billion dollars of economic opportunity in the next couple of years. We are committed to partnering with companies that understand what a diverse candidate needs, what a diverse employee needs, and is willing to support them throughout their journey and their career.

Kelly: And the employers you guys are partnered with, they are really employers that understand. They are willing to work with mothers, they understand that there are other services, again, like we [00:10:00] talked about besides just having a job that are really important, work-life balance, all of those good things.

I know in the past, when I was looking for a job, that’s how I actually learned about The Mom Project is because I went to the web and I was looking at the opportunities. I still actually get the alerts from when I signed up. And it was fantastic to know that any job you would apply for through that platform, you knew that those companies were knowing where you were coming from and would be willing to work with you and make sure that you were able to take care of your family as well as work professionally.

And so, since you have this great network of employers that you work with at The Mom Project, you’re able to bring in that knowledge to the RISE initiative and really understand what were sort of the most important aspects these employers were looking for in terms of skills.

 Is that really what led you guys to determine these are the six certificates we’ll focus on from an upskilling perspective? Were those maybe also the [00:11:00] hardest jobs on the website that were oftentimes harder to fill?

Chandra: Yes, so we partner with companies like Emsi, who provides us with research, right? We also have work labs, which is the research and insights division of The Mom Project to let us know the trends and, not just for today, but anticipating the trends for the future. And also we’re partnered with Career Circle who is very much so connected to Allegiance, which is one of the largest staffing companies in the United States or around the world more than likely.

So we have truly in-depth knowledge of trends for jobs, careers, pathways and skills that are going to be needed in the future.

Kelly: I also am wondering too now, knowing that you guys have been working with employers even for a longer period than the RISE initiative, have you noticed really a change in the hiring practices of employers post-COVID? I say post-COVID, even though I feel like we’re on these extra innings of COVID, but [00:12:00] I feel like we can say we’re a little bit on the other side of it.

Are you finding that the hiring practices have changed? Are the employers more open to looking at candidates? And, I say alternatively, but it still feels like it’s new for employers to look at skills.

Chandra: It is very new for employers to look at skills. So I find myself evangelizing, I’m using your word, evangelizing for what’s needed. How do you look at non-traditional candidates? Because again, I’m a very much so non-traditional candidate. I’ve never had the same job twice, I have pivoted so many times, but have been successful at it, right?

Because you’re looking at the attitude of these candidates, you’re looking at the aptitude, you’re looking at the transferable skills that moms have. I say it all the time, moms are the C-suite of their entire family. So we know how to run things, we know how to budget, we know how to do conflict resolution.

We know how to do everything. We know how to keep our families afloat. We know how to maintain teams [00:13:00] and collaborate and all those things. And so I feel like now, since again, 2 million women, over 2 million women left the workforce. Recruiters, sourcers talent, acquisition partners are now really being creative in how they are sourcing, especially if they want diverse candidates, especially if they want women, especially if they want moms, you have to now look at these candidates in a different way.

And so I am on the forefront of that, along with The Mom Project on the forefront of really trying to retrain talent acquisition on how to look at us and hire us and believe in us.

Kelly: I’m so thankful that you guys are out there pushing this and really being at the front, because this is just such an important message. Thank you for being at the front of making these changes, because we really do need more and more organizations out there describing this to employers.

Women working mothers, just like you described, there’s so much that we’re learning along the way [00:14:00] that is just not communicated well to employers or maybe understood well by employers. I’d love to hear how you guys are helping mothers communicate these skills to employers, because it’s not only what they’re learning through this certificate. Like you said, they’re learning so much just from running their own household, how do you communicate that?

And what do employers really want to see to understand that information?

Chandra: So we have partnered with resume experts that understand how to, and that provide templates for skills-based resumes. It’s not just about the chronological order of you’ve worked, you’ve been out of the workforce for a minute. We’re really teaching them how to present themselves in the best way.

So that is through resume optimization, it is through mentorship programs that we have. We’re connecting them with mentors from Fortune 100 companies to really give them a well-rounded experience of how to be their best self and how to present their [00:15:00] skills the best. Also, again, we’re doing one-on-one support with all of these women, giving them personalized attention that they need so that they can truly look inside themselves, get the confidence they need to be able to showcase to the world.

Kelly: When I think of a traditional hiring process, as I have a resume, I applied to a job online. Like you said, there’s sort of this typical flow to a resume. Are you guys still producing what I would refer to as a traditional resume? Or have there been changes in the way that you would create that sort of history for these women before they apply to a job?

Chandra: Yes. So we do have a traditional resume for a traditional candidate, but we do have, because a lot of these women are returned to work, they’ve been taking care of their families for the last couple of years and possibly their financial situation has changed due to COVID and they needed to get back into the work force.

So that’s where the skills-based [00:16:00] resume really comes into play because it’s not about where you’ve worked. It’s not about how many years you’ve been there. It’s about what you can bring to the table. And I’ve seen so many success stories of women who have been out of the workforce for a while, completed their Salesforce administration certificate in six weeks and got a Salesforce administrator job right after that, no questions asked.

Kelly: That’s absolutely amazing. Do they have to apply, through the work that you guys do, are they doing sort of an online application or are you connected so closely with these employers that there’s a different process that’s happening?

Chandra: Both. So again, a couple of different pathways, right? So we’re giving them the skills that they need so they can go and apply for jobs on their own. The Mom Project is a jobs platform as well so we can go to work and connect them with employers too. But also we’ve partnered with Career Circle, our upskilling learning partner, and they are jobs platform too.

So we have all hands on deck to get these women back into the workforce and we’re giving them everything they need to [00:17:00] be confident that they’ll be successful.

Kelly: Yeah, I haven’t heard of Career Circle. Is that who who’s providing those certificates as well?

Chandra: Yes, they are. We partnered with them to host our up-skilling portion of the certificate program.

Kelly: So do the women go through these certificates online, through their platform?

Chandra: Yes. Yes. The whole process is, they’re coming and applying with us. They have to let us know why they want to up-skill, what they want to do in their future, and they really need to be able to articulate that. So after we vet them, then that’s when we kind of transfer a few to Career Circle and kind of get that process started because they have to be accepted through Career Circle as well into the whole program.

Kelly: Got it. It’s amazing. I’m going to have to look them up too. The thing about what you guys are doing and what I’ve seen, especially how you described on the website, you’re just bringing together so many different parties to provide such an amazing experience for these women. [00:18:00] So I really applaud you guys for that.

We talked a little bit about how things might have changed in terms of the hiring process, post-COVID, so to speak. I’m thinking a little bit about what you described in your own transitional experience, how you made a physical move. I’m wondering are you seeing that women are able to get these opportunities now without having to physically move their family?

Chandra: Yeah.

That’s the best part. Now with COVID, the blessing and the curse of COVID, it has really opened up the doors for more remote opportunities for people who are in those remote areas. Which is who I’m truly here for, because that’s where I came from. If I wouldn’t have moved, I wouldn’t be where I am today. And I just really want to create those opportunities for other women who are not able to pack their bags and move.

There is another story I have of a candidate who was working for the state of Louisiana, making $17 an hour. [00:19:00] Completed our program and got a job at IBM as a Salesforce business analyst, making $80,000. Just like that, just like that.

So we are truly providing economic opportunities for women who need it the most without having to pack your bags. And that role that she got was fully remote because she was actually forced back into the office and was miserable. But again, blessing and the curse of COVID, remote opportunities are there.

And we are really working hard to connect these women to those opportunities, so they can take care of their families and not be completely stressed out with driving to work and sitting in an office all day and then driving home and then taking care of kids and then having to take care of your husband and then having to clean up, like it’s just a lot.

Kelly: Yup. So the other question that I have about sort of this change post-COVID because I would say there are typically a hot list of skills that employers have been looking for.

Have you noticed a change from before [00:20:00] COVID to post-COVID in your work, of what employers would really want to see in their candidates?

Chandra: I would say now data is extremely important, extremely hot. Data is needed everywhere for any job. Data analytics is huge. Project management is huge. UX design is another trendsetter, right?

So I feel like those three are hot topics for anyone, any job at this point.

Kelly: Yeah. And I know you you’ve pressed on tech related skills there, but when we talked about the skills that have really helped you through your transition, I would consider those skills to be more, I call them life skills, I think we all now probably call them human skills, foundational skills.

Are there some aspects of that that you hear from employers that are also very important?

Chandra: I feel like there’s a lot of life skills, but the project management piece is really how I was able to transition because I really had to manage [00:21:00] my life, manage my kids, manage my job, manage my job search, manage my move, all of those things which are life skills. But project management is really a skill of a mom that we can all tap into and use and really showcase at any interview or whatever, any time that we can.

Kelly: Yeah. Did you ever use one of your own personal stories? Cause I could just see you sitting in an interview with someone and describing that and them being like, yeah.

Chandra: I use whatever it takes to get the job. use whatever it takes, but honestly, you have to pull it from whatever you have. We have so many different experiences that you think wouldn’t matter, but when you share those experiences and bring them to life to someone who could possibly connect with you, and it just really helps to showcase that you’re a great culture fit for the organization.

 I just think that’s really important. So always showcase like what you’ve done, even if you don’t think it’s relevant, find something to showcase and connect [00:22:00] with whoever you’re interviewing with.

Kelly: I think that is such a fantastic reminder to anyone, whether you’re a working mother or not. There are stories, there are things throughout our life where we have learned amazing lessons and those lessons involve sets of skills. And when you describe that in a way that helps you connect with someone in an interview, I think we forget that oh, we can’t tell this personal story. But you can, and it’s relevant.

So what’s next? We’re coming up to the end of our time here, but we’re also kicking off a new year. What’s next for RISE?

Chandra: So, you know, RISE has a really robust goal to up-skill and elevate 10,000 women by the end of 2023, with 1000 of those being in 2021. And we’re already at 2000. So we are growing, we are scaling, our impact [00:23:00] is widening. But we also, again, want to stay on the forefront of anything happening. All the new skills.

So we want to introduce at least two to three new certificate programs. We really want to continue to iterate our program, make it even more impactful, more transformative. And, again, so many women are in need right now. We want to be able to offer resources, more resources that we’re offering right now.

So we want to partner with other organizations, for example, we just brought on Apple. And so we’re really working with them to truly enhance our experience, but also provide them with a diverse pipeline as well. So we want more partners. We want more sponsors. We want more women. We want more certification programs.

We want more impact.

Kelly: I love it. What about you? What’s up for you in 2022?

Chandra: I want to continue doing what I’m doing, inspiring the women that I’m in contact with and changing lives. And showing the world that even though you’re non-traditional, [00:24:00] that you can still make some things happen. I’m 100% nontraditional. I’m a single mom. I’m a woman of color who’s never had the same job twice and I’m sitting here and I’m happy.

I’m smiling. I love my life. Love my kids. And I just really want other women, other mothers and other women of color to do the same thing and feel the same way. So that’s my vision for myself for 2020. And that just leaves everything open, like it’s no boundaries, it just leaves it open for whatever may come.

Kelly: You have this amazingly strong why, and I feel like whenever you’re super grounded in the purpose of what you’re doing, all the right things start to come your way so that’s lovely.

So I’d love to ask one last question for you. Which is what is the one thing you’ve learned from COVID, or through this time of change, [00:25:00] that has been most surprising or inspiring to you?

Chandra: What have I learned? I have learned the disparities between the different classes, the economic opportunities that are not available for many, is a little bit discouraging. But I am optimistic that we’re going to change all that and I’m going to work hard to do that.

Kelly: Wonderful. Well, thank you so much Chandra for joining us today. You guys listening, if you want to jump on this train and this is really speaking to you, you should definitely reach out and join the RISE initiative. Join up with the RISE initiative there. You can find more information about RISE, and if you’re someone who’s interested in applying for the scholarships, I know that’s on the website as well. You can head over to momproject.org.

And you can also [00:26:00] find Chandra on LinkedIn or on Instagram @iamchandrasanders. Where do you like to hang out more, on LinkedIn or Instagram?

Chandra: LinkedIn was my space. And so now I’m transitioning again, we’re growing. Impact is growing widening. So I’m gonna try to do a little bit more stuff on Instagram to really help the women there that may not be on LinkedIn, because I know everyone’s not on LinkedIn.

Kelly: That’s great. Well, definitely, you’ll see me there. I’m going to come and join in. I absolutely love everything you’re doing. I appreciate you joining with us today, sharing your journey and just like the work that you’re doing. I’m really just so happy that you’re out there with that.

So thank you again. Thanks for tuning in to Let’s Talk About Skills, Baby, a Growth Network Podcast production. If any part of this episode resonated with you, we would love for you to share it with a friend or colleague who might feel the same. [00:27:00]

Feel free to reach out to me at Kelly Ryan Bailey on social and learn more about the events and initiatives we have coming up at skillsbaby.com. Thanks again for spending some time with me and most importantly, have a great day.