Dallas, TX December 2-3, 2009 “WORK READINESS TRAINING”

“The nation’s teens and its young adults, especially males, have faced a “depression” in the labor market over the past few years, with basic employment rates for teens and young adult men falling to new historical lows for the post-World War II period.” “Nation’s Teen Summer Employment Rate Hits New Post-World War II Low: Effects of Federal Jobs Stimulus Overwhelmed by Private Sector Job Declines” Joseph McLaughlin, Andrew Sum, Shaun O’Brien August 2009 BIG PICTURE: What’s Going On?

The Increasing Importance of Soft Skills  CONTINUING DECLINE IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY  CONTINUING INCREASE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE INDUSTRY  IRONY OF TECHNOLOGICAL GROWTH: The “Can-You-Learn Factor”  ANNUAL EMPLOYER SURVEYS What does this all mean to our work?

WORK READY RESEARCH SUMMARY What Do Employers Want Most from Young Workers? 4) PROBLEM SOLVING Ability to Learn on Job Critical Thinking New Ideas 2) COMMUNICATION –Oral –Non-Verbal –Written 3) TEAMWORK Respectful to others Leadership in groups Broad “Job Description” 1) WORK ETHIC Attendance/Punctuality Attitude/Likeability Responsibility/Reliability

Creating a Culture of Work Experiential Learning “The mere imparting of information is not education. Above all things, the effort must result in making a man think and do for himself.” – Carter G. Woodson We remember: 10% of what we READ 20% of what we HEAR 30% of what we SEE 50% of what we HEAR and SEE 80% of what we DO 90% of what we TEACH A CULTURE OF WORK READINESS How?: The Science of Experiential Learning

Creating a Culture of Work and Academic Achievement The THREE LAWS of EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING 1) DOING (80%, but temporary) 2) PEER-LED (90%, but temporary) 3) REPETITION (99% & Permanent) CREATING A CULTURE OF WORK READINESS

1) OVERALL PROGRAM CULTURE 2) The Intake Interview 3) The Orientation 4) Training Prior to Work-Site 5) Concurrent Workshops with Internship 6) Retention Workshops WORK READINESS TRAINING STAGES

1.Simulated work environment that mimics work place 2.Emphasis on Soft Skills Employers Want Most (job seeking skills can come during follow-up workshops) 3.Mindset: Emphasize Internship as “Long Interview” 4.Pre-Internship preparation = Post-placement success Work Readiness/Leadership Training Key Elements