Namita K. began her SER Journey at the age of 18. Now 22, Namita has a great job and is living her best life!
As a child living in Nepal, Namita heard stories of life and opportunities in the United States and dreamed of living here. When her dad was offered a job in this country, they were thrilled to move to Houston. Because Nepal is a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-linguistic country, Namita spoke English and was able to assimilate fairly easily. One thing that scared Namita was interviewing for a job. When Namita turned 18, she needed to go work but felt anxious about the entire process. Her teacher at Wisdom High School thought SER’s Summer Jobs program would be a great starting point for Namita.
SER’s Summer Jobs program places youth and young adults between the ages of 16-24 in 4 – 7 weeks of paid work experience/internship positions at local businesses and non-profit organizations, while providing support, guidance, resources, and other services.
Namita arrived at SER not knowing what to expect but excited about the possibilities. She enrolled in the program and received job readiness training and help with her resume. Then SER helped Namita obtain a position with the City of Houston’s Office of Business Opportunities.
“I didn’t know much about jobs or working,” Namita stated, “but everything was set up in a way that made it so easy to get a job. My experience at the City of Houston was great; that’s why I kept coming back to SER every summer to take part in their summer jobs program.”
After her internship, Namita went to college at the University of Houston. Over the next four years, Namita kept returning to SERJobs for summer employment.
“I was pursuing Accounting as my major, so my second summer at SER, I went to work at the Menil Collection in their accounting department,” said Namita, “my third summer I was able to work at Bank of America.”
That experience changed the direction of Namita’s career plans.
“I graduated in May of 2020,” said Namita, “and though I majored in General Business Management, I was interested in exploring the field of finance and banking. I really liked the environment at Bank of America.”
Immediately after graduating, Namita began applying for full-time work. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak, and no one seemed to be hiring. So, Namita returned to SER.
“SER helped me get a part-time position at Old Navy, Meyerland, until I could find something permanent, hopefully at a bank,” said Namita, “I follow SER on Facebook and knew they had a banking
training. I worked with my career coach, Manny, who helped me apply and arranged an interview with the training instructor.”
Namita landed a spot in the final banking training class of 2020.
“In class, I learned so much about finance and a lot of banking basics – literally everything I needed to know about retail banking,” said Namita, “the instructors shared their experiences and even stayed after class to answer questions and even help prepare us for interviews. The class was very interactive with mock interviews and role playing. I learned my strengths and weaknesses, so I was very prepared to interview for a job.”
During the training, Namita and her classmates were able to virtually meet and converse with representatives from SER’s myriad of banking partners, including Celia Lopez with Capital One.
“Building that network in the banking industry was one of the best things about the training,” said Namita, “I must have impressed one of the banking reps because they asked if I would be interested in interviewing with them. My interview went well and I was able to show my knowledge. I was already using banking terms, so they could see I knew what I was talking about.”
The interview must have gone very well because Namita received an offer for employment before the training ended!
Now Namita’s career dreams are being fulfilled! She works in a personal banker hybrid role where she opens accounts, acts as teller, and even has sales goals.
“I’m having fun,” said Namita, “I really enjoy my job. I am personally into management, so I’d like to go further, possibly as a Client Experience Manager.”
“I feel so lucky that I found SER; they really helped me,” said Namita, “I’m still young and deciding on my future – maybe I’ll eventually get my MBA – but for now, I plan to be at my job for a long time.”
Namita’s career coach Emmanuel E. states, “We are all so very proud of the work that Namita has done with SER over the past few years! It’s been such a pleasure having her be a part of our SER family and we cannot wait for her continued successes!”
We’re excited to be a part of Namita’s journey, which was made possible by Capital One and SER’s other Banking Training partners.