Prudential Financial, Inc. is a financial services leader that provides customers with a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. A WOS partner since 2005, Prudential utilizes the On Demand and TAP programs and places WOS participants in Customer Service, Information Technology, Project Management, and Accounting/Finance positions.
In 2005, Prudential joined Workforce Opportunity Services (WOS) as its founding partner. When Barbara Koster, CIO of Prudential, met with Dr. Art Langer, Founder and Chairman of WOS, she immediately saw the value of the WOS program and the opportunities it provides to communities with limited resources.
“At the time, we weren’t seeing a great deal of new talent in the IT industry, especially in specialized areas like mainframe,” says Koster. “The WOS program provided training for these types of roles, and the best part is the opportunity it gave to our young residents right here in Newark. They were all very bright and had the desire to continue their education, and this program gave them that opportunity.”
Since 2005, the partnership has evolved and expanded its reach significantly, especially in the veteran community. In 2010, unemployment among post-9/11 veterans was two percentage points higher than the national average.* As a solution, Prudential launched VETalent, a program in partnership with WOS providing post-9/11 veterans with the resources and training needed to launch a professional career at Prudential.
“It is important for employers to understand the talents veterans possess. The training and experiences that Veterans developed in the military are directly applicable to the skills needed for careers in corporate America,” says Chuck Sevola, vice president and Head of Veterans Initiatives at Prudential Financial. “The relationship that we’ve enjoyed with WOS has been a big part of our success with the VETalent program; it’s so adaptable and allows us to train veterans for many different roles at Prudential.
Learn more about our partnership with Prudential by downloading our case study.