Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful (KNIB) is an environmental resource center to bring recyclable items to. Their mission is to improve our environment through education, public awareness and community involvement.
This past fall, Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful partnered with The Workforce Connection’s Elevate Youth Program for a paid Work Experience opportunity for an Office Assistant position. They were in great need of someone to answer the phones in order for them to utilize their time more efficiently and strategically. They also needed someone to help with data entry with the utmost respect with accuracy and to assist with general office duties.
The Elevate Program was able to match Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful’s needs with a participant that was looking to get into business management, but lacked the basic skills and experience in this industry.
Through the Work Experience (WEX) program, the participant has improved social skills that will help her in any position that she accepts in the future. She has learned about business phone systems, office etiquette, and various software programs. She is becoming proficient in data entry and working with spreadsheet programs.
Referring to the work experience participant assisting their business, Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful states, “(she) is reliable, we are able to help her improve on her social skills, as well as help her understand the inner workings of our not-for-profit organization. We are able to accomplish a lot with her on the phones and she is learning so much that her questions are minimal. She’s a great asset to our organization!”.
