Finding a job can be a challenge for young people. They must determine what careers are available, what their interests are, and what skills they have or need to develop. There are numerous resources available to help young people gain an idea of their interests and abilities, as well as gain work experience and learn about employment opportunities. Matching young people or “apprentices” with responsible and caring mentors, generally adults, has been found to be an important support for young people as they transition to adulthood and the workforce.
1 Mentoring provides opportunities for young people to develop emotional bonds with mentors who have more life experience and can provide them with support, guidance, and opportunities to help them succeed in life and achieve their goals, 2.Mentoring relationships can be formal or informal, with substantial variations, but the essential components include creating caring, empathy, coherence, and lasting relationships, often with some combination of role models, teaching and counseling. A form of mentoring, called instrumental or topic-centered mentoring, focuses on a particular problem and aims to help apprentices achieve specific goals, such as improving academic performance or preparing for employment opportunities. Apprenticeships and internships can provide on-the-job opportunities to integrate mentoring into work experiences for young people. You can learn more about internships and youth internships below.
Learn more about mentoring and the benefits for young people and their mentors. Self-assessments help teach young people about themselves so that they can find a career that is well suited to their interests and abilities. They allow young people to explore. A professional, such as a counselor at a high school, vocational or vocational school, university, or vocational training center, can help select an appropriate evaluation, interpret the results, and provide career guidance.
American Job Centers (AJC), also known as comprehensive care centers, provide job referrals, counseling, and other support services to help both find work and locate training and education resources. AJC have offices in the United States. The National Collaboration on Workforce and Disability offers a series of evaluations that can aid in the transition from school to employment. In addition to focusing on career planning, these resources recognize the unique challenges faced by students with disabilities.
An additional online resource, Students and Career Advisors, allows students, career counselors and parents to learn more about potential career opportunities. This resource provides opportunities for students to explore their interests, learn about potential careers, learn how to gain work experience, and find additional educational opportunities to support professional development. The objective of an Individualized Learning Plan (ILP), also known as an individual service strategy (ISS), is to connect what young people do in the classroom with their professional and university goals and aspirations. ILPs help young people discover their skills and interests, to combine their interests with degrees and careers, to set goals and to achieve them in a thoughtful and meaningful way.
The Office of Employment Policy for the Disabled has several resources and information on the ILP. Follow the links below for more information. Finding available jobs can be difficult. It's important for young people to recognize that finding a job often takes time and that it's important to develop a plan, schedule, and goals when searching.
Many sources list available jobs, from newspapers to online lists and directories. CareerOneStop has online job openings that provide information, and trained staff at its US Workcenters is available to help advise young people on various employment options. Tools such as GetMyFuture, which allows young people to seek professional opportunities based on past work experiences, can help young people identify future careers that might be available based on their previous work experience. University career centers, CareerOneStop, and American Job Centers can help young people prepare resumes, write cover letters, and practice interviewing.
State vocational rehabilitation agencies are often represented in or can be accessed through American Job Centers to provide assistance to young people with disabilities in the job search process. College career centers can also provide valuable resources for students in their search for jobs and internships. Soft skills are generally defined as personal qualities, not technical ones, that translate into good job performance. Employers have named them the most important to successful work performance.
Social skills can be learned through a variety of media, including classroom instruction, youth programs, volunteering, and service-learning. Learn more about soft skills and how they can be developed. Connecting at-risk youth to promising careers (PDF, 5 pages) This summary, developed for the U.S. UU.
The Department of Health and Human Services of the Children, Youth and Families Administration analyzes promising occupations for at-risk youth. Occupations are based on their potential to earn reasonable wages, the required educational requirements, the projected growth and demand in the labor market, and the potential for individual progress. Opportunities in the fields of health and construction, as well as work-based learning and career programs, are highlighted. Youth Jobs+ Youth Jobs+ is an initiative that connects young people to jobs, internships and other employment opportunities by bringing together companies, religious and non-profit organizations, and elected officials to help create employment pathways for young people.
The website includes resources for finding jobs and learning about the careers that celebrities, athletes, politicians and government employees had when they were young. Workforce3 One podcast series on related health occupations for young adults, Workforce3 One, sponsored by the U.S. The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the Department of Labor is an interactive communication and learning platform designed to develop the capacity of the Workforce Investment System. He has published a series of podcasts featuring young adults who have received training through the public workforce system and who are currently working in different health-related occupations.
This series provides practical information on health-related occupations to help both young adults and staff develop a career plan. Job liaisons focused on U.S. youth. The Employment and Training Administration of the Department of Labor provides links to a variety of free online resources and Department resources for young people to help them develop career plans.
CareerOneStop and American Job Centers The EE. Department of Labor's CareerOneStop is a free online resource that provides information and inspiration about employment; a place to manage careers; a place to develop a path to professional success; and tools to help job seekers, students, companies and professional professionals. The U.S. Employment Centers, which are professional centers funded by the Employment and Training Administration of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), help adults and young people explore careers, search for work, develop interview skills, receive education and training, and write resumes.
Approximately 2,500 American employment centers are located in communities in the United States. Occupational Outlook Handbook The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a nationally recognized source of professional information in the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). It is designed to help people make decisions about their future working life.
The manual, which is reviewed every two years, includes information on hundreds of jobs and describes the training and education needed, income, expected job prospects, what workers do on the job, and working conditions. Office of Employment Policy for the Disabled The Office of Employment Policy for the Disabled (ODEP) was authorized by the U.S. Congress. Department of Labor Allocation for Fiscal Year 2001.ODEP works to influence national policy and promote effective work practices to ensure that the current and future workforce includes all people, including people with disabilities.
ODEP offers a variety of resources and information for young people with disabilities who are transitioning to adulthood, including a focus on social skills, internships and data, among others. GetMyFuture As a CareerOneStop website, this tool allows young people to explore careers, learn about education options, identify employment ideas and job opportunities, and find support. The site also includes a set of tools to find local resources and information to find a job, get unemployment benefits, or get contacts to help you with the next steps. My Next Move This electronic tool offers people three main ways to explore careers, including an online interest assessment from O*NET, and provides a profile of each occupation that highlights knowledge, skills, technologies used, simplified information on salaries and perspectives, and links to finding specific training and employment opportunities.
National Collaboration on the Workforce and Disability This website, with support from the U.S. The Department of Labor's Office of Employment Policy for the Disabled (ODEP) provides a variety of information on youth employment, including evaluations that can aid in the transition from school to employment. The website pays special attention to young people with disabilities. Students and Career Advisors This CareerOneStop tool allows students, career counselors, and parents to learn more about potential career opportunities.
Provides opportunities for students to explore what their interests are, learn about potential careers, learn how to gain work experience, and find additional educational opportunities to support professional development. Research links early leadership with greater self-efficacy and suggests that leadership can help young people develop interpersonal and decision-making skills that support success in the workforce and in adulthood. In addition, young leaders tend to be more involved in their communities and have lower dropout rates than their peers. Youth leaders also show significant benefits to their communities, as they provide valuable information about the needs and interests of young people.
Civic participation has the potential to empower young adults, increase their self-determination, and give them the skills and self-confidence they need to enter the workforce. Read about a young person's experience in the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC). The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) website includes interactive resources that students and teachers can use to explore different career options, view employment projections, and learn more about the history and work of the BLS. The Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration sponsors two valuable resources to help young people identify their career paths.
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