At SF Youthworks, we believe that having a job and earning money for working is not enough for our youth participants. Our interns deserve a learning experience that will prepare them for the real world beyond high school. So we combine our unique internship experience with opportunities for youth to attend workshops to gain knowledge that isn’t always taught in schools. In this way, youth become better prepared and better equipped to be the more successful leaders of tomorrow.
This summer, SF YouthWorks is providing workshops on various topics, expanding on our previous summers’ training opportunities. These training sessions give our interns the opportunity to gather with fellow interns to learn about ways to prepare for the real world.
These workshops include:
- Pre-Employment Training: This mandatory training prepared our newly hired interns to begin work in their San Francisco City departments. Aside from the expectations from the program, rules and regulations, and the payroll process, our green and eager youth interns learned about workplace professionalism and how to make a lasting first impression.
- Money Management: Are you saving money for college? Do you want to learn how to develop healthy spending habits? What is the difference between a checking and savings account? Youth who signed up to attend this workshop were interested to find the answers to these questions and to develop skills to manage the money that they will earn this summer. Importantly, interns learned about the difference between instant and delayed gratification. After the workshop, youth walked away with financial goals that they have set for themselves.
- College Information: YouthWorks summer interns are approaching their junior and senior years in high school. In this workshop YW staff members, who vividly remember their own anxiety when completing the college application process, shared their experience with the youth interns. Topics such as financial aid and SAT preparation were discussed, along with an explanation of the different kinds of college degrees. What had started as fear of the unknown, became motivation to attend the colleges of their dreams for our interns.
- Resume & Interviewing: At this popular workshop, youth looked at sample strong and poor resumes. Then, with the help of staff, interns drafted their own. When drafting their resumes, the interns reflected on their internship, the tasks they have worked on and the skills that they have developed so far. During the second part of the workshop, interns learned about job interviews. They learned about how to professionally present themselves and then participated in a mock interview to practice what they have learned. Participants also learned about reference sheets and cover letters.
- Public Speaking: Later this summer, SF YouthWorks will have a workshop to teach our young people how to overcome the uniquitous fear of public speaking.
Blog written by YW Administrative Assistant Andrew Wu.