In his serious book with the light-hearted title, Just Because I''m Latin Doesn''t Mean I Mambo: A Success Guide for Hispanic Americans (The Ballantine Publishing Group, 1998), Juan Roberto Job counsels recent college graduates on life in corporate America.? The stereotypes they may face, such as being poor, uneducated, foreign, and unable to speak English well, are detailed along with strategies for addressing them.? Another problem cited is that the corporate world is a totally unknown entity to degreed Hispanics who are just beginning their careers.

Since most come from modest social and economic backgrounds, they have had no exposure to business and the behavior patterns required in an office setting. The author believes, however, that the principal challenge is to reconcile the significant differences between modern corporate and traditional Hispanic cultures. One example noted is that while business success requires self-promotion, Hispanic culture values modesty. Mentoring is the solution, and if the employer has no formal program, Mr. Job urges trainees to find their own career coaches within the organization.

Working as a college intern is an obvious way of gaining insight into a corporate culture, and a unique approach is briefly described in Making the Grade: On the Job Training in Latina Style (July/August, 1999). Its author, Virginia Velasquez Cruz, highlights a Bank of America program in San Francisco that recruits minority interns directly out of high school and mentors them throughout their college years.