Benco Dental is working with the United Way of Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania and the Northeast PA Manufacturers & Employers Council to provide the Your Employability Skills (YES) program to eligible students in four new schools and school districts in northern Luzerne County. The goal is to better prepare teenagers for the workforce and connect them with award-winning businesses offering local employment.
YES is a 120-hour, one-credit, year-round elective course that addresses the shortfall of basic skills that employers say are lacking in many job applicants. United Way of Wyoming Valley is supporting the workforce development program expansion through a $20,000 grant. The YES program emphasizes business tours, guest speaking opportunities, and mock interview events.
As part of the program, students tour regional businesses to get an inside look at how industry functions and the careers available to them when they are ready to enter the workforce. With its home office in Pittston, Pennsylvania, Benco Dental is one of these businesses.
“Adding company visits to the YES curriculum allows students to see all the work options in their own backyard. And at Benco, for example, those careers can take them across the United States,” said Danielle Dominick, a talent coordinator at Benco Dental.
“Benco Ambassadors welcomed the students from the YES program and offered tours of our home office in Pittston, which is about the size of five football fields. Tours were followed by conversations with a warehouse supervisor, director of our contact center, and me, a talent coordinator in our Culture and People Department to offer a few perspectives of a day in the life of an associate at Benco,” Dominick said.
“We shared info about entry-level positions, career ladders, and specific requirements for employment at our company. The students asked questions. They were invested and surprised to learn all that we do here at Benco. During the tour and in the discussions, they were impressed with the award-winning culture that our associates experience every day,” Dominick said.
“At Benco, we’re strong supporters of all of the United Way’s efforts in the community, including this new initiative with the YES program that will make educational opportunities accessible to even more young people in the Wyoming Valley. When more students in the region gain awareness of the employment options, a greater talent pool will be in place when positions become available at Benco and in the area overall,” said Dominick.
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