Vulnerable young people: Job and life skills

We would like to share with you the scope and results of the work we have been doing in 2016.

We have finished with the last 2 programs of the 8 that we had planned for this year. Each program consisted in 3 days with each group.

More than 250 young students have attended to a total of 8 Programs. Each program was given by our professionals in the schools during class time. We have provided more than 85 hours of training.

The last 2 workshops were developed in the "Escuela de Comercio nº 5 José de San Martín", located in the district of Balvanera, pertaining to the City of Buenos Aires.

In this opportunity you would find a very short summary of one of the chronicles written by one of our colleagues in the 3 days workshop provided in the "Escuela Normal No. 07 JOSE MARIA TORRES", located in the neighborhood of Almagro.

Chronicle – Day 1

Our first activity was to work these slogans: How do you think "youth"? And, what is work for you?

Their answers were:

- YOUTH: they highlights the assumption of new responsibilities, as well as being an instance of decision making that will mark them for the future.

They said: “you no longer have mom and dad behind”, and clarify that many of them no longer depend on their parents for many things; “You have to organize yourself”, exemplifying what they themselves must do next year to support their studies, as well as the difficulty to do so because “Finishing high school does not indicate that we have matured enough”.

- WORK: in general, makes independence possible but also causes fatigue and stress.

Also, they indicated that it is not only about stress and fatigue, but also that it is a space of socialization. The importance of motivation arises, which relates both to the pleasure of the activity performed, as well as to the group and working conditions.

I inquired what tends to circulate in their fields of belonging on these subjects. They talked mainly about work, and the complaints they usually hear about it: tiredness, the money that is not enough to cover the expenses of the month, many hours, etc.

Several of them mentioned that their families motivate them to study, because is a way to access better working conditions so they do not will end up like them.

For the next activity they worked in groups to represent a complex work situation: two groups represented a job interview and the third group a bad situation in a clothing shop.

After the role playing, they talked about work situations they had found difficult to cope with. On these, they hightlighted the importance of maintaining a climate of respect arises and the importance of separating a situation that was generated by one's own mistake or something that has to do with the other, since this allowed handling what was happening.One of the students comments that she works selling cell phone accessories and once a man came very angry because something did not work, she listened to him, tried to help him and the customer was grateful.

Chronicle – Day 2

We worked in how to prepare a CV (personal data, training, work experience) and the cover letter. We talked about the differences between this letter and the CV, as well as the aspects that should emphasize.

Several of them had had difficulties in locating their own characteristics to be located in the workplace. So we worked with the SWOT tool. I told them what SWOT analysis was about and I invited them to complete one.

As a last activity, they worked in 4 groups to create a work profile that included CV, Cover Letter and SWOT analysis, for four different jobs (one per group): secretary in a health center, a call center operator, a clothing salesman and a fast-food employee.

The entire group commented what they thought about it. The highlights were around the letter of presentation: it was very informal, it seems that you were asking for a favor, if you shown like that, you are not going to be hired, etc.

Chronicle 3rd workshop – Day 3

We worked the topic of the day: "Job interview", by recalling that in our first meeting, several of them had commented that they were working.  Some students shared how they had accessed those jobs and what happened during the selection process. In some cases, as it was a family business, they did not have to do anything. Others considered that they had not done so because they were recommended in a known area.

We talked about the different ways that the interviews can be: face-to-face, by telephone, Skype and even Whatsapp, but that these means do not detract from the fact that there is an opportunity to take advantage of.

Only three students told that they went through a face-to-face selection process: at Burger King, at a Call Center and at McDonalds.

They told of their experiences with the interviews: "horrible", "very nervous", "tense" and “stressful".

Some of the interviews were individual, and they were asked about their work experience, studies, work objectives, expectations, etc. While others were taken in groups with exercises they did not understand.

Also, those who had never worked but plan to do it next year shared how they imagine this process. All agreed on the traits of tension and nerves that the situation generates.

For the last activity they had to work on the creation of 5 different job profiles and the interviews that should be represented later. They were divided into five groups. Each group showed the corresponding role playing and the entire group gave the opinion about what they saw there: what attitudes they consider pertinent, which ones do not, what would improve, what would change, what they would leave, etc. They emphasized the importance of attitude as one of the skills that would contribute to a young person to be hired in a job even if he had no previous experience.

Links:

• Search us on: www.foportunidad.org.ar

We want to share with you the scope and the results achieved so far with the work we have been doing.

During this semester we provide 6 programs in 3 schools:  Escuela Técnica Nº 05 D.E. 11 "M. de los R. de Escalada de San Martín” located in the district of Flores, Escuela Normal Superior N° 7 "José María Torres”, located in the district of Almagro and Escuela de Comercio Nº 18 "Reino de Suecia” located in the district of Parque Patricios, all belonging to the City of Buenos Aires. 

Up to now more than 190 young students have been attending these workshops in their respective schools during class time. 

So far we have been providing 60 hours of training.

Our work is based on the implementation of a device that has as its main objective the development of tools and subjective techniques necessary for the development of a work project.

These areas focus on rescuing those potentials that enable, young people, be recognized as capable of inserting a demanding and competitive labor market.

In our country, young people make up a population group particularly affected by the problem of unemployment, especially if they come from a vulnerable social reality.

Access to employment is for most of them symbol of adulthood, autonomy and independence. So, entering to the world of work represents, above all, the transition to adulthood. 

However, the lack of jobs is a problem that especially affects to these young people, which are exposed, compared with adults, to higher levels of economic and social uncertainty.

Our responsibility is to accompany them and continue to provide opportunities to facilitate their entry into the labor market. 

This second stage of work aims to empower young people to apply to different employment programs.

We are planning to make 2 post-workshops that are associated with an institutional agreement with the company Unilever of Argentina S.A. This company offers young people the opportunity to participate in finding staff who perform to occupy a position in our country is called "Merchandiser" and is the one who is responsible for replacing the goods produced by the company in supermarkets

We want to share with you that we started with the dictates of Training Workshops 2016 that we mentioned in our last report.
These workshops were design for young students attending the last year of public secondary schools in the city of Buenos Aires.
Again this year we are going to work with more than 200 young students.
Each program consists of a total of 12 hours of training. Each of the programs will make up of about 25 students.
Our professional team is in charge of the trainings. As well, every 15 days, they assist to meetings coordinated by our supervisor where they work with inputs that appear in the workshops.

We are pleased to tell you that we have completed two of the eight Training Workshops we offer.

During the workshops we focus in:

- Developing subjective and technical tools regarding employment.
- On the elucidation and the exertion on subjective positioning.
We place our bet on broadening the living space.
We encourage these young students to the reflection on the matter of search labor among youngsters so they can take active participation as well as a leading role. Only by defining each labor search in a particular way - considering their opportunities, interests, abilities and hopes - we will be able to frame it within a sustainable work and professional project.

In future reports we will share the progress of this project!

We want to share with you that we are planning the new Training Workshops 2016. This is a new opportunity to consolidate the partnertship with public schools. During the workshops we will focus in developing subjective and technical tools regarding employment.

We are  beginning the  planning of this year project, as in Argentina, the school classes have just started. We are in the stage of   managing the group of schools that will participate, and discussing with the teachers and with the proffesionals that carry on the projects, several aspects regarding contents, and dinamics that we intend to include this year. Among other we will count with the support of Cía de Talentos, an organization with vast experience in recruitment. 

We place our bet on broadening the living space of the highschool  students that will be attending the workshops. 

Again this year we are going to work with more than 200 young students attending the last two years of public technical schools in the city of Buenos Aires.

Each program will consist of a total of 12 hours of training.

These meetings encourage  young students to think about their own potencialities, which are the main resource to start planning a better future and a better like. 

Help young students in Buenos Aires - Progress

We are pleased to tell you that we have completed 10 Training Workshops focused in subjective and technical tools regarding employment.

They were carried out from April to September. The trainings were given by our professional team.

We worked with 250 young students attending secondary technical schools in the city of Buenos Aires.

Each program consisted of a total of 12 hours of training. Each of the programs was made up of about 25 students.

Through the programs developed we have achieved several goals:

• Participants have been able to build a work project where their own desires and interests had a privileged place.
• All young people who attended this project have actively participated in the various activities proposed.
• Young people, that attend the workshops have learn various technical tools, which were presented to them, and used them in a practical manner, in order to allow the student who are about to finish highs school, taking contact to the near future scenario when entering the labor market.

After these meetings they are able to know: how to prepare their job profile, based on the attitudes and skills that each of the young people can recognize as their own, how to organize for effective searching, they were able to write and design their own resume.

We focus on the elucidation and the exertion on subjective positioning. We place our bet on broadening the living space.

We encourage these young students to the reflection on the matter of search labor among youngsters so they can take active participation as well as a leading role. Only by defining each labor search in a particular way - considering their opportunities, interests, abilities and hopes - we will be able to frame it within a sustainable work and professional project.

We worked together in different techniques for job interview doing role playing. For this, the groups had designed different profiles, questions to be undertaken during the interview were generated, the salary proposal, etc.

To incorporate these tools at the end of the interviews, the entire group discussed what they had observed. This allowed them to position themselves not only from the side of those seeking employment but also from those who generate the search.

Working from experience, these tools are not only mere information but incorporated into everyday life.

We worked in order to expand opportunities for development and growth of young people in situations of social vulnerability and promoting equal opportunities in the construction of labor and educational projects.