February 26, 2024

On a recent Saturday morning, a group of Mercy Home’s young people prepared for career success at our annual Job Skills Seminar.

Dressed in business attire, the participants began by watching a skit of a mock job interview before transitioning to four different sessions in which they were partnered with Chicago-area professionals who volunteered their time and expertise to mentor our young people.

In planning the event, Liz Kuhn Tomka, Mercy Home’s vice president of education and career resources, helped organize sessions titled On-the-Job Basics, Mock Interviewing, Professional Introductions, and Professional Communications.

“The overall purpose of the Job Skills Seminar is to create an opportunity for youth to practice skills to land a job,” Kuhn Tomka said.

“We teach these skills in our job skills classes, but it gives the youth the opportunity to practice them with people that they don’t see every day at Mercy Home.”

In the Professional Communications session, young people learned how to draft a formal email with all the essential elements. They practiced creating subject lines, salutations and greetings, the body of the message, and the closing.

Anna Lane, an office administrator and member of the charity task force at trading firm Optiver, said that she always wanted to be a teacher because she loved working in youth development. She decided to volunteer for the Professional Communications session because she remembers the challenges she experienced when drafting her first emails for a job.  

“Growing up, I didn’t understand the corporate jobs that were available,” Lane said. “[I wanted to] help them see what’s important when you’re going into a job setting. A professional email can be so scary.”

In the Professional Introductions session, participants practiced their elevator pitches in one-on-one meetings, a way of making a brief introduction and connection with another professional. 

“[The event] created more of a real-life situation where they would need to do an interview with somebody who is a stranger or introduce themselves or do an elevator pitch to somebody to learn how to network,” Kuhn Tomka said. 

Later, a presentation called On-the-Job Basics showed our young people the ins and outs of holding a job. In the mock interviews room, youth practiced going through a formal job interview. 

Jacky Neri, a compliance analyst at Harris Associates, said that when she applied for her current position, the recruiter went through a mock interview with her which was “super beneficial.” She said that some of the kids were nervous but the best time to be anxious is during a practice session. 

“I’m a very nervous person,” Neri said. “So, for me, feeling prepared is how I overcome my anxiety and so if I can help someone else do that, I wanted to.”

Jim Marrese, Mercy Home’s director of strategic initiatives and business development, said that all the 51 volunteers on Saturday had existing relationships with Mercy Home. Volunteers represented businesses or affiliations like Mercy Home boards and alumni who believe deeply in our mission and consistently support the Home throughout the year.

Harris Associates sponsored the event and the Chicago City Clerk’s Office provided translators for some of the kids at Mercy Home who primarily speak Spanish or another language.

Companies like Optiver have also helped to support our residential gift program and underwrite the costs of a Community Care party during the past year. AArete, which sponsors many other Mercy Home events, brought a group of dedicated employees who focus on volunteerism. Additionally, UPS, the Associate Board, Thompson Coburn, Mercy Home alumni Eddie Gamble, and Balyasny Asset Management L.P. all played major roles on Saturday as well as throughout the year. 

Following the event, a few of our young people were recognized and received awards for their participation. All received individual feedback and recognition from their coordinators and a gift card.

“[The event had] great energy,” Kuhn Tomka said. “Last year was our first year back [after COVID]. I feel this year it really had the energy it needed and just seemed like a big deal. We had more residential staff present which made it nice too.”

Thank you to all our volunteers and coworkers who helped make this year’s Job Skills Seminar a success!