JA Career Success® equips students with the tools and skills required to earn and keep a job in high-growth career industries. The program covers key topics including the 4C’s (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity), strong soft skills, work priorities, STEM and other high-growth industries, and personal-brand and job-hunting tools (resumes, cover letters, interviews, and digital profiles). JA Career Success consists of seven 45 minute volunteer-led sessions.
SESSION ONE: GET HIRED: CRITICAL THINKING AND CREATIVITY
Students are introduced to the need to be work ready by developing the 4Cs skills that employers want from people entering the workforce.
The students will be able to:
- Use a problem-solving technique to solve personal and professional problems
- Recognize that decisions made in the workplace have consequences
SESSION TWO: GET HIRED: COMMUNICATION AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT SKILLS
Students apply communication skills to resolve conflicts in work-based scenarios. They will explore behaviors that inflame conflict and behaviors that lead to a resolution.
The students will be able to:
- Recognize common responses to conflict
- Apply conflict-management skills to resolve work-based issues
SESSION THREE: GET HIRED: COLLABORATION AND CREATIVITY
Students practice collaboration—a 4Cs skill—by using a team-building model referred to as the GRPI model, which describes the behaviors found in high-performance teams in the workplace.
The students will be able to:
- Demonstrate collaboration with team members to accomplish work-based challenges
- Recognize the components of a high-performance team
SESSION FOUR: GET HIRED: STRONG SOFT SKILLS
Students will review soft skills that are in demand by employers and rate their own soft skills. They will use personal stories in a job interview workshop to communicate these skills to a potential employer.
The students will be able to:
- Identify soft skills that are in demand by employers
- Demonstrate personal soft skills in a mock interview
SESSION FIVE: GET HIRED: KNOW YOUR WORK PRIORITIES
Students learn that in the current workforce, people change jobs or careers several times over a lifetime. Students explore which priorities should be their anchors as they prepare to enter the working world.
The students will be able to:
- Recognize the importance of being focused, proactive, and adaptable when exploring careers
SESSION SIX: GET HIRED: KNOW WHO’S HIRING
In groups, students analyze factors to consider when researching careers: skills learned through training and education; interests in various career clusters; and specific high-growth jobs
The students will be able to:
- Analyze requirements needed for high-growth industries
- Identify the education and training needed to be adaptable and competitive in the job market.
