Written by Nathan Olski
Dana Fletcher is a career coach at Temple University’s Lenfest North Philadelphia Workforce Initiative (LNPWI). He offers a multitude of services, free of charge, to residents around Temple University. People can come into his office at the Temple OWL Hub (located at 11th and Berks) for assistance to improve their resume, hone their interviewing skills, or improve their job search techniques. If you want to find work, Dana can help you.
This is not all he does. Dana understands how difficult it is to find and keep good employment when a person has personal issues. An example, Dana worked with an individual who recently lost her job and was unsure if she was good enough to find work again. This woman attended several workshops that Dana lead. Dana helped her regain her confidence and improve her skills. She is now employed and making $100,000 annually working for the federal government.
For Dana, the best part of the job is seeing people he worked with succeed. One man Dana worked with was a reentry candidate but was unable to find employment. Dana helped him with his resume and this man was able to find work. After finding employment this man returned to Dana and thanked him, stating that Dana’s services were a game changer for him and helped turn his life around.
Dana stressed that now is a great time to secure employment. Opportunities which may not have been available are opening up. With the Great Resignation employers are looking for candidates. Businesses are starting to reopen, but their employees are not coming back. This means that wages will rise and working conditions will improve in order to attract more workers. It has been noted that 93% of businesses are reopening, but only 43% of workers are returning to these businesses. However, this is not an opportunity that will last forever and so Dana wants to help people while this fantastic opportunity is still available.
Dana shared, “The sooner people start our workforce programs, the sooner they can finish the program and find promising opportunities because of it.” The purpose of LNPWI and the point of Dana’s services is to meet people where they are. Dana is serious about not simply giving lip service to helping people, but actually improving their job prospects.
There is also more to Dana than his work as a career coach. He also has a passion for football, when living in Qatar he would stay up until 2 AM just to watch the Eagles play. He is also an offensive line coach at Malvern Preparatory School, instilling the passion he has in the sport in young people. Dana is also a devout Muslim and loves spending time with his family.
If you would like to get in touch with Dana, he can be reached at dana.fletcher@temple.edu.