Students gain work experience through bank

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Since 1993, the Royal Bank of Canada has been operating an Aboriginal Stay in School Program to support the education of Aboriginal youth and provide them with summer employment.

More than 500 students have participated so far.

This year alone, 26 students were placed in Royal Bank branches across British Columbia.

Judging by what three told Raven's Eye, the bank can consider its program a success.

Chantell Hill, 15, worked at the branch in Prince Rupert this summer.

Jack Hendry, 16, worked in North Vancouver.

Billy Jean Nye, who turns 18 in October, worked in Sparwood for two summers, but has recently moved to Calgary to attend university. Before school started, Nye was continuing to work in a branch there part-time.

The students said they learned valuable work and time management skills and they gained confidence in dealing with the public. All said they believe that work experience in a bank is an impressive qualification to put on their resumes.

Just as important, they all had fun and said they would recommend the program to other students.

The program is offered to Indian, Inuit or Metis students in grades 9 to 12 who plan to return to school in the fall. The idea is to let them find out first-hand how important education is to their future chances of finding and keeping a job.

They are trained either in a bank branch or one of the Royal Bank's affiliate businesses. They are taken on for a minimum of four weeks, up to a maximum of eight weeks, and they are paid for 150 hours of work.

Hill, who finished Sept. 1, heard about the program from a school counsellor. She worked on the counter processing deposits, withdrawals and transfers, following two weeks' training.

"It sounded like a really good job, because it would be really good on my resume. Like if other employers saw it, if I was trying to get a job somewhere else, they'd be like, 'Wow, she worked at a bank and she's only 15 years old.' It's great. I've learned so much here.

"I didn't know at first, when I heard about it, I didn't think I'd be able to do it, but after I got trained and everything I felt more confident in myself."

Hill has started Grade 11. Her marks last year were all As and Bs. She's not sure what career she wants yet, but is glad to be getting business experience now.

Nye has been working in the bank program long enough that she's got the bank jargon down pat.

"The CSR is basically the teller, " she explained.

She said most of the time last summer and this she worked with CSRs, observing, learning and doing.

"I also did some work on the computers and did some work outside. One time, they got me to go to a different bank ... and see what kind of things they could offer me (as a client). I think I ended up doing Visas, and looking at what the competition had."

As with Hill, Nye has never seriously considered leaving school before graduating, and she stated she is quite keen on academics.

When she was at the end of Grade 11, Nye said the Native liaison person at her school asked her if she could put her name forward to participate in the stay-in-school program.

She worked one month last summer and one month this summer, but at the end of August last year "I ended up getting a job with them, as a casual, on the Fridays I had off school. So I worked very randomly during the year because I was at school, but I got some experience that way too."

Asked what was the best part of working in the bank for her, Nye said "I'd actually have to say it's just the atmosphere that's around it. The job is fun in itself. But the people, even when I came to Calgary and worked here, the people in the business are so nice."

Nye said she wasn't sure if she'd have time to work in the bank while attending university, but was going to look into whether she could "get some Saturdays in" at a branch that stays open that day.

Nye, whose Native heritage comes from the Klahoose tribe, said she'd tell otherAboriginal students to "take the chance" on this program if they're looking for summer work.

"Just because it's great experience. It helps boost your self-confidence. Before I went there, I was pretty shy."

Jack Hendry, whose home community is in Old Massett, learned about the program on the Capilano reserve while perusing a job bulletin board.

When Raven's Eye talked to him he had just begun job shadowing, but was looking forward to working as a teller.

Before that, he was working in a warehouse in Richmond. "That was a really bad work atmosphere. I got hurt really bad once. I had to get out of that ... I had a whole shelving unit fall on me."

When he quit, he got a call from the bank the next day.

It's his first office job. "I like it. I like it a lot," said Hendry.

"I'm used to really physical jobs, out in the sun, lifting heavy stuff all day."

This is Hendry's fourth part-time job in two years. Although he had only one bad work experience, he is glad he got a chance to try something totally different.

"I think it will help me greatly when I try to get my next job ... working at the bank for a 16-year-old is a really big responsibility, so I think a lot of companies when I drop off my resume, they'll probably like that.

"I would like to become a carpenter," he said. He plans to attend a trade school in Burnaby.

The application process for the Royal Bank's Aboriginal Stay in School program begins in April. Application forms are downloadable from the Internet at this Web site: www.rbc.com/uniquecareers.