Giving Together with your Alliance Partner

When values align our partner organizations - it is a beautiful thing. Our Purpose Driven value is one that makes me proud to work at Argano and grow with our Salesforce partnership with their 1:1:1 model. They seek to help their community and empower their employees to do the same.

A few months back, I met Shayla Hutchinson, MA-HRM ?? and she told me about BOLDforce SF team was created to work with local students at David W. Carter High School to expose them to the business community, see how it all operates, and how they can build a foundation of future success. BOLDforce?is a global community fueled by passion and advocacy for empowering, supporting, and retaining Black employees at Salesforce and celebrating Black excellence both within and outside of Salesforce. They are unapologetically?BOLD and PROUD?- a powerful group of members and allies that leave a lasting impact on Salesforce and our broader community. This grassroots effort in Dallas has been nothing short of spectacular. They have created a series of events for the students to come to the Salesforce office to grow, encourage, and serve student champions as they pursue their high school education. They offer an introduction to the technology workforce as well as display Salesforce culture and values to the student.

Last Friday’s meeting was the third in the series and I had the honor of being a part of one of the events in the series. This time the students came to learn the basics about preparing to look for a job and the process of getting a job. They had two sessions going on at the same time with a panel discussion sandwiched in between.?The students spent an hour in each breakout session learning vital skills to help them prepare for getting a job.

The interviewing session consisted of Salesforce employees doing mock interviews with the students to simulate how an interview should go back and forth with questions and answers. I heard this was an intense round of questions that made the students think on their feet to best answer the questions. The social media class was led by Tam Watts ?? (She/Her/Hers) who gave her experience as a Talent Advisor at Salesforce and a strong LinkedIn user. There was a lot of great conversation in this room as many questions were asked about just starting out on the platform and how to move their resume into an engaging profile using life skills and recommendations to leverage the skills that these students have. ?

Before lunch, they had a panel discussion with 6 people talking about their HBCU experience. I also learned about HBCUs and the benefits of attending those universities for students of color. There is always more that everyone can learn about those around us and while I felt ridiculous that I did not know more about this, the personal experience expressed by those on the panel gave the students a real look at what college is like and how to stay focused to succeed.

At the end of the day, they took headshots for the students to provide a professional photo to tag alongside their resume and future LinkedIn profile. Research suggests that programs that provide information about future opportunities and offer support and resources can have a positive impact on college enrollment and completion rates.

An alliance relationship is fluid and is not defined only by the KPIs you set together but the growth that can be created outside of those perimeters created. The Volunteer Time Off opportunities at SF are vast and allow employees and partners to band together to help the community. I cannot say that I did much to help in this instance but being there and watching what these amazing leaders have created is truly inspiring. Find the values that align with your alliances and continue to grow together, and you will find the reward goes well beyond the walls of your partnership.