Telling It Like It Is

Telling It Like It is www.PeerGuidance.ca

Featuring Dan Olesen - Senior Program Director at Careers

Careers play an essential role in helping teens choose a career. Please share how your program works?

A simple 3 part process: Awareness, Exploration, and Experience. CAREERS watches job trends to find in-demand opportunities. In collaboration with our schools, we increase awareness of careers in areas of skill shortages and connect students to industry with camps, tours, and other exploration events. Student recognize the resources available to guide their career education development; in turn, they’re inspired to connect to employers for paid internships, “on-the-job” experience, as part of their high school curriculum. Students get paid, get credits, and get experience. Linking classroom learning to the workplace builds a bridge to employment opportunities, post-secondary education choices and a commitment to life-long learning.

There are a few traditional industries that use you. With the changing tech scene, are you hitting that up?

CAREERS is best known for our work with the registered apprenticeship program (RAP) and the skilled trades. CAREERS and our partners applied the best parts of the apprenticeship model and work integrated learning to build the framework for the tech sector and careers related to information and communications technology (ICT). Alberta’s tech sector is already demanding a larger, local, and better talent pool, in a wide range opportunities with varying levels of skill and focus. Today, students have access to courses, clubs, and dual credit options, that increase the caliber of technical skills already developed in high school that rival post-secondary classes. The CAREERS ICT Internship program, positions employers to cultivate that talent with our emerging best; in turn, students are better positioned to learn and adapt skills to the changing needs of the industry with a fit-for-purpose.

How does a company and student go about applying to you?

CAREERS is an industry led, not-for-profit, foundation. Our services to the student, school, and employer are free, because of the support of our partners. Every student and employer needs 3 things to apply: 1) a computer or device to access our website, www.careersnextgen.ca, to contact the CAREERS Program Coordinator in your community. 2) An interest to develop

skill potential in Business and Marketing, Software Development, Information Systems, Infrastructure, Data and Security, or Digital Design beyond the curriculum, to increase local innovation. 3) Courage to take on the future. CAREERS and our partners in education, government, and industry are inspiring that higher level of collaboration to expedite the probability of success. 93% of students and employers will go on to recommend CAREERS programming, after the internship.

If you had one piece of advice for a startup or entrepreneur, what would that be?

It is time that employers, teachers, parents and students stop the rhetoric of starting your career “from the bottom.” It implies that those in entry level positions are in a hole that they must climb or scratch out of to earn any self-respect. We can change the message and instead we can emphasize the importance of learning the culture of work, to develop key employability or soft skills in tandem of the technical skill development. Entry level roles help one evaluate career decisions and choices with those working professionals in the sector they are most interested in. Ultimately, it is the value and willingness to start… from the “BEGINNING!”

Every Generation should be included.

Empowering every generation is important.

Connecting generations together is valuable.

Knowledge sharing can happen across every generation.

In our March issue we will be discussing youth in the community along with organizations, businesses, and people who encourage youth to be involved in the community in various ways.

Telling It Like It Is took the time to interview Dan Olesen from Careers the Next generation. Make sure you check out our March issue to read features from the students who participated in the Careers program.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

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