BGCA’s Kevina Fullwood “Your Workforce Bestie” is BACK and bringing her extensive experience from both in Club and at the National Office to help you design work-based learning experiences the center the interest of teens.
Does your Club offer Work-based Learning? Work-based learning (WBL) experiences are structured, educational job-readiness programs that occur in the workplace. They create safe spaces to learn about the world of work while youth develop their employability skills through first-hand application. Work-based learning experiences may be paid or unpaid, and may include service-learning opportunities, internships, assistantships, pre-apprenticeships, and apprenticeships.
Before designing WBL experience for teens, you have to establish your intentions. Is this an employment opportunity for the teen or a learning experience? As your Workforce Bestie I have to challenge you to be honest about your intentions and capacity. Are you looking to just satisfy personal needs (such as staffing challenges) or are you truly trying to develop your young person? Are you just looking for employees or are you trying to help that teen develop all of the skills that they need so that they feel confident pursuing what they are interested in, even if it isn’t the Club long-term?
If your intentions are set on preparing teens to be the best versions of themselves so that teens are confident in pursuing what they are interested in, then I believe you are ready to begin designing. As I go through all the components you’ll need to keep in mind, also consider your local community, and both the needs and opportunities that exist.
The Job Title & Responsibilities
Let’s start with the job title and responsibilities. While we love the names of programs names like Up Next and Youthforce, that doesn’t always mean something on resume. Title the job position as what it is and make sure it can resonate on a resume. Be concise and and use simple words and sentence structures. If teens will be serving in similar roles as YDPs, borrow from those job descriptions you already have. If they will be in other roles, be sure to look at industry standards for language to use. Here are some examples:
The Supervisor!
Make sure you have the right person supervising WBL participants. They should be approachable and understanding, communicative, and able to balance guidance with independence, helping young workers build confidence and skills while navigating the responsibilities of their new role. Look for experience fostering a supportive environment where teens feel encouraged to ask questions and grow. Some tips to keep in mind:
- Remember to be Patient. While this is a WBL experience, participants are still learning.
- Balance constructive feedback with praise.
- Host weekly meetings with your WBL participants to discuss their experience and offer feedback. During those meetings you can recognize a WBL participant for that week, review goals and progress for completion and offer feedback.
- For Out-of-Club experiences, check in with participants and supervisors regularly. Maybe even offer to sit in on one on ones with the off-site supervisors and the participant.
Orientation… not bore-ientation
Just like any new job experience, be sure to start the experience with a new employee orientation, but know that you may need to switch up your normal onboarding for these teens. Be clear about learning outcomes and make it fun where possible. Make it a hands-on experience. During my time as a Club Director, I hosted orientations for my Summer Youth Employment Program participants. To help teens participants get tom know one another and build comradery we hosted a teen mixer and teambuilding activities. For out-of-Club experiences ask to review the orientation materials that teens will receive. Conduct a site visit and be prepared to advocate for your teens. Teens should be able to lean on you to provide clarity during their WBL experience.
Supporting Teen Goals
Sometimes we are limited in the type of WBL experiences we can offer because of lack of partnerships, staff capacity, funding etc. However, in working with what we do have to offer, we can still help teens reach their personal goals. While it may not be the career path of their choice, they can still practice the skills they will need in their career of choice, such as meeting deadlines, planning sessions, and basic office etiquette like checking email regularly. Set goals with teens especially around their personal goals and growth.
If you notice a teen participant needs support or if they have expressed wanting to improve specific skills like presentation or communication skills, include opportunities for them to develop those skills in their WBL experience. This can be during weekly team meetings with other WBL participants or at a teach-back at the end of the WBL experience. If networking is making teens nervous, host small mixers for your teen staff. This can be in combination with adult staff or volunteers. Gamify the experience or add prompts to help teens navigate the networking space. Bingo and apps like Goosechase can give teens specific missions or tasks that will help them engage with others during these experiences.
Incentives and Stipends
There should be a clear policy on incentives, stipends and reporting participation time. This should be reviewed during orientation. Incentives can be associated with attendance. It can also be based on learning outcomes completion and deliverables throughout the WBL experience. One of my favorite things is PTO (Play Time Off). You can have teens commit to a certain amount of programming time for a certain amount of play time. The play time can look like extra time in the recording studio, in the gym or game stations. Incentives can also look like branded merchandise, field trips and special privileges around the Club. Whatever you choose be sure you do it on the agreed time. I recommend never going longer than a month to incentivize participation. We don’t work for free as adults and neither should our participants.
Culmination
Make sure to celebrate the success of participants at the end of the WBL experiences. This can be a celebratory outing, certificate of completion, appreciation gift, or recognition on social media platforms and websites. Progress trackers are also a great idea as they provide incremental recognition throughout the experience. If it must be a pizza party at least add wings. 😉 I think this is so timely with the constant banter about employers rewarding the hard work of their teams with pizza parties!
It is no question that teens are eager to be successful in whatever career path or future they foresee for themselves and as BGC staff you are truly capable of providing the tools and resources that they need to get there. Building a culture of Workforce Readiness in your organization begins with centering the interest of our members in all that we do and that includes their WBL experience.
BGCA has resources to support your efforts! Visit ClubPrograms.org to start planning with the Up Next In-Club and Out-of-Club planning guide. To hear about what other Clubs are doing at their sites, join us the second Wednesday of every month for Workforce Wednesdays webinars.
Until next time, Your Workforce Bestie.
What Work-Based Learning experiences do you offer at your Club? How do support teens as they prepare for their future? We want to know! Comment below, on the BGCA Youth Development Facebook page, or email ClubXBlog@bgca.org.
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