Some 200 Hasidic Jews, about 10 percent of them women, filled out applications for bank jobs in a “job mobile” stationed in front of the Williamsburg YM and YWHA last Thursday, an official of the Y reported today. The Mobile Employment Center of the First National City Bank of New York interviewed applicants for 12 hours.
Arrangements for the visit of the unit were worked out through Rabbi Bernard Weinberger, religious consultant for the Williamsburg Y, Sol Levy, its executive director, and Harold Braverman of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. Rabbi Weinberger, who reported on the results of the visit of the unit, said it was the first to a poverty area. The project was started by the bank, one of the nation’s largest, in an effort to cope with severe personnel shortages.
Rabbi Weinberger, who initiated the visit of the mobile unit, said that five Hasidic Jews had been hired for positions in the bank previously on the basis of individual referrals through the Y. He said about six Negroes also filled out applications during the all-day visit of the unit.
Applications were made available for entry level clerical jobs. Women applicants are seeking secretarial positions, he said. He reported that the Jewish applicants were assisted in filling out applications by Rabbi Joel Skurnik, director of a job placement program for Orthodox Jews at the Federation Employment and Guidance Service, and Melvin D. Freeman, Guidance Service assistant executive director. Rabbi Weinberger was present throughout most of the day to help the applicants.
The applications are now being reviewed by bank personnel officials, who will notify eligible applicants to report for physical examinations and specific job orientations, prior to placement. Jobs for which applications were filled out were key punch operators, data processors, clerks and secretaries. Bank executives have assured Rabbi Weinberger that Hassidic Jews employed by the bank will receive special consideration in regard to early leave during the fall and winter for Friday and absences during all Jewish holidays.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
