SKILLS FOR THE WORKPLACE
Work Ready: positive action to help
Bermuda’s youth
For some time, the Bermuda Employers’ Council has been concerned that young people enter the workforce lacking some of the basic skills required in the world of work. Martin Law outlines a scheme to tackle the problem.
BEC believes that, collectively, the employer community can do more to help employers. As a result, we have developed a pilot programme called Work Ready. It fits well with our philosophy that it is better to do something proactive to help our young people improve their employability rather than simply complain about a lack of skills. This programme has been delivered to S4 students at CedarBridge Academy over an extended semester in four periods per week.
W
The programme content focuses on areas that are not taught in school but are important at work. Writing resumés, interviewing, business dress, interpersonal actions and reactions, personal behaviour, business writing, email etiquette and customer service perspectives are among the many topics covered. To ensure that the Work Ready experience is different from everyday school lessons, professional trainers are supplied by the BEC.
A considerable amount of course material has been developed to assist the students, along with a programme handbook, Charting your Future.
Students, parents and staff have all received Work Ready positively. As with any pilot programme, we will improve the content for
hile the Government is implementing many initiatives to deal with workforce development, and individual employers have development programmes in place, the
the future, making it even more relevant, but we are building on good beginnings.
There have been a couple of milestones during the Work Ready programme that have stood out. Firstly, we invited 14 of the participants to attend the BEC annual general meeting (AGM) in December. They were charged with introducing themselves to sponsors as well as conducting themselves in a business-appropriate manner. Everyone who interacted with the students commented favourably on their meeting, and principal Kalmar Richards expressed her pride in how the students conducted themselves and the positive feedback she received from them afterwards.
To conclude the programme, the students organised a special general meeting—based on the BEC’s AGM—at CedarBridge in April 2009, at which an overview of the course and details of the lessons learned were presented. The event included addresses by BEC president, Graham Redford, and Richard Winchell, executive director of ABIC. Certificates were presented by Minister Elvin James. In the presence of their peers, BEC and CedarBridge board members, sponsors, staff and family members, the students demonstrated the value of the programme through their evident employability and the standard of the event.
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FAST TRACK / Careers module / 2010-2011 55
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