During the month of May, YouthWorks staff kept busy preparing for the 2011 summer session. Staff reviewed over 700 applications received from youth applicants from every community and high school in San Francisco. In reviewing applications, YouthWorks staff considered each youth’s career interest, past experience, skills, and availability. We also made every effort to ensure that our program continue to serve youth citywide, including students from a diversity of schools and communities. The review process was very difficult as there were so many qualified youth applying for a relatively small number of positions.
Approximately 250 youth were invited in for an interview at our office. During the interview, youth had the opportunity to meet with YouthWorks staff and discuss their interests, skills, and match with available summer internships. These interviews provide a wonderful opportunity for our staff to meet a great pool of youth candidates and to match them with our available positions. At the end of this difficult process, over 170 youth were hired for summer internships.
Now we are moving into our pre-employment stage. All youth who have been placed in a position will attend Pre-Employment Training over the next two weeks. In this training, youth will learn more about their internship placement, prepare for making a great impression on their first day of work, explore their rights and responsibilities as workers, and learn payroll and other program procedures. Over the next few weeks we will also begin informing worksite mentors about the youth who have been placed in their offices, libraries, and recreation centers, so that they can prepare to receive their new summer interns.
Youth will begin work at their internships during the week of June 20 and will work through August 5, 2011. During the summer, youth will gain work experience and also be invited to participate in career exposure activities and workshops. We look forward to working with our new class of summer interns, but we also wish we could serve a larger percentage of the interested youth who applied to our program.