Building the Employability Skills

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Building the Employability Skills of BTE
Youth BTE Ambassador Training Session II
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• Session Goals Objectives
• Gain an understanding of key employability skills
• Explore strategies for building employability
  skills among youth
• Extend knowledge and techniques for working with
  youth

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• Session Agenda
• Warm-Up Activity
• Content Presentation Employability Skills
• Core Academic Skills
• Higher-Order Thinking Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Workplace Skills
• How BTE Volunteers Can Help
• Brainstorming Learning Activity
• Closing

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• Ground Rules
• Refrain from checking your electronic devices for
  emails or messages
• Turn off or silence cell phones/pagers if you
  must take a call, step out of the room
• Be open to ideas and opinions
• Be willing to ask questions
• Observe and practice confidentiality of
  discussion that warrant it
• Keep an open mind-avoid judging others
• React to the information address the idea, not
  the person
• Have fun

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• Role Models
• Warm-Up Activity

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Employability Skills

• Employability Skills
• Competencies needed to be successful in any work
  setting, regardless of the job.
• Not job-specific
• Important throughout a career, from entry-level
  jobs to senior management
• Skills, attitudes, and actions that enable
  employees to get along with their co-workers and
  make sound, critical decisions.
•  

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• Employability Skills
• Critical job readiness or employability skills
  include 
• Core Academic Skills
• Basic knowledge of core subjects
• Higher-Order Thinking Skills
• Ability to think, reason, and make sound
  decisions
• Interpersonal Skills
• Soft skills or people skills a cluster of
  personal traits or behavioral competencies that
  complement hard skills and are an important part
  of an employees ability to be successful
• Workplace Skills
• Understanding and utilization of key workplace
  values
• Alabama Cooperative Extension System

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• Employability Skills
• To support the development of employability
  skills among youth, individuals and organizations
  can offer a variety of
• Opportunities
• Activities that allow students to test-out
  behaviors and practice skills
• Supports
• One-to-one relationships, such as coaching or
  mentoring
• Services
• Provision of goods, supplies, or resources,
  including incentives, meals, scholarships,
  stipends, or transportation.

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• Best Approaches for Building Employability Skills
• Employability skills are teachable skills that
  can be taught in school and employment settings,
  as well as through informal and formal
  interactions.

• Interpersonal Skills
• Coaching or Role Modeling
• Community Service
• Critiques Feedback
• One-on-One Discussion Sessions
• Peer Networking
• Recognition
• Service Learning Projects
• Workplace Skills
• Applied Learning Activities
• Job Shadowing Internships
• Training Sessions
• Videos
• Workshops

• Core Academic Skills
• Applied Learning Activities
• Service Learning Projects
• Tutoring
• Higher-Order Thinking Skills
• Brainstorming Sessions
• Case Studies
• Individual Assignments
• Inquiry Investigation
• Group Discussion Discovery
• Group Projects Work
• Oral Presentations
• Training Sessions
• Service Learning Projects
• Workshops

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• How Can BTE Ambassadors Help?
• BTE Ambassadors can build employability skills
  by
• Communicating with youth the skills employers
  require
• Coaching or teaching, not telling
• Holding youth responsible for their behavior
• Modeling appropriate behavior
• Organizing team-based (group) applied learning
  projects
• Providing opportunities for youth to observe and
  practice appropriate work place behavior
• Replicating the features of real work settings
• Setting high expectations for youth
• Targeting specific employability skills
• Having fun

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• Brainstorming Activity
• Of the employability skills discussed, which
  employability skills should our BTE program
  target?

• How can our BTE program build these critical
  employability skills?
• What opportunities, supports, or services does
  our BTE program currently provide to address
  these skills?
• What new opportunities, supports or services
  should our BTE program provide?

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• BTE Student Activities
• Newspaper Tower Spaghetti Bridge Personal Credo
• Small Group Learning Activity

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• Debrief Discuss
• What employability skills does the activity
  address?
• What additional activities could be implemented
  to continue and foster the development of these
  employability skills?
• How could this activity be modified to address
  additional employability skills?

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• Thank you!