Rozanna Vakhapova wanted to challenge herself when she moved from Russia to the United States in 2009 at the age of 24.
She knew very little English, even though she had a college degree, and struggled finding herself in a career. She was a waitress, customer service representative, a sales and medical clerk. In 2020, shortly after she moved to Los Angeles, she continued looking for opportunities and found out about JVS SoCal’s career training programs like BankWork$. At the time, she was unemployed due to the pandemic.
BankWork$ is an eight week no cost program that prepares job seekers for positions in banking as a first step on the career ladder in the dynamic financial services industry.
“I love that it’s in banking, it’s something that I really wanted to do but I didn’t know how I could get there,” said Rozanna, now employed by Bank of America.
Rozanna was impressed by how diverse the students in her class were. Everyone was eager to learn what this new path presented. She praised her instructors, especially Julian Hampton, who challenged her to grow professionally. “And most important was that everything was prepared already for us. You can see the transition from the first week to the end of the week, for eight weeks,” remember Rossana. “How we grew and became more mature or became more professional.”
Hampton had praise for Rozanna, specifically for her eagerness to learn and ask questions about the material they were learning.
“She was a wonderful student that came through the BankWork$ program I was so honored to have the privilege to be able to instruct her and walk her through everything,”
remembers Hampton, director of JVS SoCal’s Works program.
“Her coming into the class and being full of questions and wanting to know everything there was to know about this industry was great.”
Rozanna said she felt like a celebrity at the end of the course, when she had interviews with many of the program’s partners. BankWork$ students have the opportunity to interview with our partner financial institutions at graduation in a private job fair. The program also prepares the student, helping with resumes and doing mock interviews which gives them more confidence and focus.
“I didn’t have any fear. I knew how I was going to answer all the questions, and I was prepared from the beginning. It wouldn’t have happened without JVS SoCal,” adds Rozanna.
JVS SoCal also helped her with a makeup class, where she had the opportunity to learn about how to look her best without having to spend too much money. Rozanna took part also in a class where she learned business etiquette and business attire.
“It is important because you know, if I want to be successful one of the key elements is how I look, and how I present myself and how I feel about myself”, said Rozanna.
Once she was done in the program, she was hired by Bank of America, which was her first choice as she had been banking with the institution since arriving in the U.S.
“I’m very respected within the community, with co-workers and I’m building… a trustworthy relationship with the clients, with the community and with the employees as well,” explains Rozanna.
Quite a change from what she had experienced in her early years in the United States, where Rozanna had to live paycheck to paycheck, while not seeing her career take off.
“I had a great opportunity to be in that class and see how other students in the class have a good job and career,”
adds Rozanna, who frequently visits BankWork$ classes to inspire others like her.
“Every day is very important for me because I know it’s not a 9 to 5 job for me; it’s my career and I know my clients. They are very grateful that I can help them at any moment.”