Latest / Spending time with Dr. Christina / The Amazon experience: Why are college grads, vets, and other professionals at Amazon?

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The Amazon experience: Why are college grads, vets, and other professionals at Amazon? · Spending time with Dr. Christina

• 0:00
  Hello everyone and welcome back to my podcast
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  spending time with dr. Christina. We're still
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  in season 8 the Amazon experience and we're on
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  episode 6 in this episode I'm talking about why
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  our college grads college students even for that
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  matter veterans and other professionals coming
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  to Amazon well for one It's work, right? So a
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  lot of people are in need of work We know that
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  from this current presidency a lot of people
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  have lost their jobs in the government A lot
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  of people have lost their jobs even at the VA
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  So you're gonna find a variety of folks coming
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  to Amazon for work However, when we think about
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  the college students and the college grads, Amazon
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  recruits at colleges. They recruited at my college
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  and at the time I just didn't have an interest.
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  It was more geared toward say business students
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  and MBAs and the program that I was in. like
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  corporate communications. We took a lot of business
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  classes and you could do a joint degree. But
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  where was that in my career? I just didn't have
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  a lot of time to do anything like that. I was
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  pretty much focused on where I wanted to go.
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  However, with that being said, they do a lot
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  of recruitment, that is Amazon, at the colleges.
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  They have a program that streamlines both college
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  students and or college graduates into a managerial
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  program as well as veterans. So there's really
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  a particular path that either one of these folks
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  can take and go into, say, a management position
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  if they don't have any experience, blah, blah,
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  blah. They can kind of come to Amazon and say,
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  hey, I'm a veteran. I'd like to apply for this
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  particular position. And they are navigated through
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  the veteran path. If they are a college grad,
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  they can apply and they get navigated through
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  that particular path. Now, other professionals
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  that come, especially to the warehouse, there's
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  like a lot of folks that are, say, professors
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  like myself or are just business folks. and want
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  to stay busy, maybe they're early retirees, they're
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  coming to Amazon to see what's going on. And,
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  you know, let's distinguish between the Amazon
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  warehouse and Amazon corporate. The discussion
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  that I have for season eight, we're talking about
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  the Amazon warehouse and we're kind of focusing
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  on the delivery station and fulfillment center,
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  primarily the fulfillment center, where I just
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  have had some experience. So when we think about
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  people come into Amazon. I've mentioned it already.
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  They're coming for work. They're coming because
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  there's a known career path, like for college
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  grads or veterans. Or maybe it's something else.
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  Maybe they're coming because they need the health
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  benefits. And Amazon does offer very good benefits
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  in comparison to, say, other organizations. You
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  know, UPS and the others, they're kind of up
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  there, too. They cover nearly 100 % of the health
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  care. They offer opportunities for child care
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  support and things like that. I know Amazon does.
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  UPS it's been a long while because my father
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  worked there and I did a seasonal there once
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  or twice my father and even my my uncles my father's
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  brothers so for that part I know something about
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  but for those out there that are looking for
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  work we have a lot of seniors even, senior citizens
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  that need to stay employed because their social
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  security is just not enough and they have no
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  pensions. I met a few people where say their
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  company went bankrupt and they thought they were
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  going to have a pension and because they had
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  like a chapter 11 or something or 13 they only
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  got maybe $10 or $11 out of something they expected
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  they would get hundreds of dollars from. So there's
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  a lot of reasons for folks coming to Amazon.
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  Outside of their marketing and their big recruitment,
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  there is a need. People need to work, right?
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  We're at a time where expenses are very high
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  and we have tariffs on everything. So it just
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  kind of makes it Difficult to just manage sometimes
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  with one job or even a part -time job and one
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  thing about Amazon They do offer a lot of full
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  -time positions They do offer flex positions
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  So essentially you can find them to be pretty
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  accommodating with your schedule at times So
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  if it's a case where you are a mother and you
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  need to be home for your children or you are
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  a dad that needs to take on an extra job. These
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  are just examples. You're looking to do something
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  part time to build up even holiday money. Then
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  this is a place where a lot of people come. I
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  know friends of mine, they always come for the
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  holidays. Say they are coming in and these are
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  folks that have also early retirees. They kind
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  of took off and did their own thing at 35 and
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  40. And so they've been moonlighting pretty much
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  everywhere and Amazon is one of those places
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  where they'll come maybe in August and stay till
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  about February so you know you have a lot of
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  options there but finding the right department
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  is always the challenge when you come in there
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  because sometimes you may find that a particular
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  department that has a shift open may be kind
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  of difficult. And then they have other departments
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  that are very easy. So it really is on top of
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  that if you have the need to, you know, find
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  a job like Amazon, finding the right schedule
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  with the right department. So that's something
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  to think about that I wanted to add in there.
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  However, everyone comes to Amazon Bottom Line
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  is for work, right? And while they have a lot
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  of career pathing for certain folks, certain
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  different backgrounds, veterans and college grads,
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  they still have the internal promotion system
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  and where someone can move up in the ranks. And
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  a lot of times people find that attractive. I
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  met a lot of people that came from places like
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  Walmart and Wegmans and things like that. And
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  they found Amazon to just be a better environment
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  for them based on whatever they experienced so
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  there's a lot of options and it just depends
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  on what you're looking for and if it's a good
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  fit for what you're doing if the Money is a good
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  fit the culture is a good fit The task itself
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  a good fit and not necessarily in this order,
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  then it could be a win -win situation for you
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  because there are a variety of different shifts
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  that keep things going. So that's something to
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  think about. And while anyone could pretty much
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  take a job at Amazon, no matter the background,
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  you could be a nurse, a doctor, an engineer,
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  what have you. Some of the fits that are really
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  good are folks with business degrees, folks that
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  have manufacturing experience. folks that have
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  trade experience, that is international trade,
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  domestic, importing, exporting, things like that
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  if you have an interest. So a lot of these backgrounds,
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  IT, they're really good fits. And if... There's
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  an area that you're interested in I met a lot
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  of people that wanted to get in trucking and
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  They wanted to get into trucking. They saw that
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  to be their future Amazon offers a program that
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  you can take and you can get your CDL License
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  and you could probably move on and become one
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  of their drivers or someone else's drivers But
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  it's a win -win situation for those that want
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  to get into trucking Amazon does offer also help
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  with getting the degree. In fact, they help with
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  people that need to learn English. They have
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  the TEFL classes. They post them. So if you want
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  to work on your English, there's an opportunity
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  to do that. I've seen it posted in the ladies
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  room where they had partnerships with the local
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  SUNY or CUNY colleges. It would be SUNY for those
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  upstate and CUNY for those downstate. But for
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  anyone in the New York warehouses, I've seen
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  a lot of advertisements for that. And for those
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  that are looking to get a specialized trader
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  skill, I've seen that advertised on the Amazon
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  portal. Once you become a Blue Badge employee,
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  these are things that are available. for those
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  that are looking just to get their college degree.
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  They do pay for it 100%. And I believe it's if
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  it's your first bachelor's degree. So there's
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  lots of reasons for people coming to Amazon that
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  could. work out very well, especially for those
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  that are looking to also finish their high school
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  diploma. I've seen the GED advertised as well
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  in the bathroom and other places. So, I mean,
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  it's an advantage. And I mentioned this early
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  on for those that are internationals. that are
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  immigrants to this country, visa sponsorship,
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  that's part of the employment package as well
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  for some. So that's another plus to come to Amazon.
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  However, once we get past all of these different
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  pluses, I think a lot of people are looking not
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  just to stay busy, but to make a difference.
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  So you're gonna find a lot of people looking
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  to make a difference to prove that they can do
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  the job and do it well and perform well and help
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  this company be a success. I've seen that quite
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  a bit. So everything hasn't been just negative.
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  There are some positives and I'll be talking
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  about that in my final episode with my wrap up.
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  However, there's a lot of advantages for people
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  that are looking to get certain things accomplished
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  in their life, whether it's the health benefits
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  they need in place, whether it's the child care
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  and support, whether it's the college education,
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  whether it's the job itself and getting income.
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  This could be a place for you. That is the end
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  of this week's episode. I'm hoping that this
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  message was a help to many of you. And until
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  the next time, I wish you all a very good week.