This program is designed to help you, the provider, deliver services to clients in the areas of job readiness and life skills. The design of this program emphasizes that life skills and job skills aren’t necessarily two separate areas. They go hand in hand in developing a worker who can succeed in today ’s job market.

Life Skills

We recognize many individuals are unable to sustain employment because their personal lives are in disarray. According to an article on Human Resource managers as reported in the Wall Street Journal, most absenteeism and progressive discipline are attributed to problems in the worker’s personal life. “If workers could just come with instructions!...” Those instructions would be on stress management, money management, developing self-confidence, and getting organized. Basic problem solving with a dose of conflict management wouldn’t hurt either. Many corporations such as Marriott and Thompson Electronics understand successful employees experience success off the job as well. They are currently investing in their work force by time spent training on life skills like personal budgeting, hygiene and grooming, and personal time management, to name a few.

Job Readiness

The success of the individual is a combination of personal and employment success. We use a holistic approach to giving clients the tools and teaching them life skills that will transfer to the workplace. This program is designed to help the client focus on skill investigation and planning for skill development. Through the use of transferable skills and the career portfolio process, the client will identify what he or she can do, and learn to make career decisions—not only for initial job placement but also for wage gain. Job readiness includes an attitude of “willingness to work.” This program also addresses attitudes in the workplace. Today’s workplace is organized around performance-based reviews. Professional development planning by companies is done on long-term and short-term skill development. We know individuals who understand the performance criteria are more likely to advance in wage gain and position than those who are not analyzing their own skills.

Career Portfolios

As more people compete for jobs, employers are looking for ways to find the best people. Employers are looking for proof of a person’s skills. Work samples, certifications, and skill sets are ways workers can prove their skills. A career portfolio is an organized binder of a person’s skills and abilities. It is portable proof of their skills, and can have a positive impact in a job interview or review. Many companies are adopting career portfolios as performance appraisal tools for those individuals who want to grow or transition their careers. A portfolio can be used to track a person’s activities and achievements on the job. This can be a significant tool when seeking advancement and wage gain. Developing a career portfolio is not just about the final product—it’s a process of analyzing skills, needs, strengths, gaps, and developing a plan to reach goals. It is also a lifelong plan for documenting a person’s skills and career successes. The career portfolio process can be as simple or complex as the individual and his or her skills.

We are here to tackle a working model, which standardizes and integrates life skills and work skills into job readiness.