Club Participation with YouthAction NI 2014-15

45 young unemployed people took part in the latest GET SET TO GO skills event in YouthAction NI on Thursday 5th November. The employability workshops - goal setting, interview skills and entrepreneurial skills modelled on 'the apprentice'- were led by members President Ronnie, Eric Rainey, Derek Baxter, Brian Clements, Trevor Hinds, Alvin McKinley, Ronnie McLean, Gordon Millington, Ken Morrison, Ken Nixon, Walter Rader and Chris Warnock (Karen Blair and Doris Houston were unable to attend) together with other GET SET business partners from Coca Cola, PWC, Slack Press and Barclay Telecom.

Feedback from YouthAction workers and the young people who attended was very positive; they felt they were more confident; learnt preparation is the key as well as the need to believe in yourself, sell yourself, be on time and be consistent. Their comments included:

• I feel more confident
• I have learned that I have skills I didn't know I have!
• I liked the time and effort the employers put in for us and their helpful information
• I liked the interview skills and found out what employers look for
• I have a clearer picture of my goals and a better career plan
• I learned to focus on my future and not my past

It was a very successful day as a survey carried out on the day by Youth Action showed:

• 73% of young people felt more confident in applying for jobs
• 83% know better how to sell themselves and present themselves at interview
• 81% have a better idea of what employers are looking for
• 83% know better how to set and achieve career goals
• 84% said they now know how to develop a business idea

GET SET project manager, Clare Conlon thanked members for their invaluable contribution.

Gallery

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8 Club members participated in the Get Set to go Roadshow on 3 April 2014.

President Ken Morrison, Alvin McKinley, Chris Warnock and Eric Rainey led 2 workshops on Entrepreneurship. Incoming President Ronnie McLean, Past Presidents Brian Clements and Courtenay Thompson and Walter Rader conducted a similar series of workshops on Interview Skills.

11 Club members took part in the Get Set to Go Day held on Thursday 13 November 2014 and 5 participated Thursday 23 October 2014 in training interviews for 11 members of the YouthAction Youth Workers Apprentice Scheme.

A total of 44 training interviews were undertaken as each of the eleven youth worker apprentices experienced four different styles of interview – formal, less formal, one-to-one and by a telephone. These interviews took fifteen minutes including time for feed-back on how the interviewee had performed. The youth worker apprentices are aged 18-25 and are on an 18 month training programme to prepare them for application to youth worker courses the interviews being part of their essential skills building programme. The interviewers were all very impressed by the high standard and dedication of these young people.

Youth Action NI's Work Placement Mentor, Amy Gillen, says: I would just like to say a big thank you! I really appreciated that you and the Rotary team were able to facilitate the extra Get Set to Go Day workshops and for the effective smooth running of this. You were all great with the young people and it was a pleasure as always and Clare Conlon Leader of Youth Action Training Team says: thank you all for your time, commitment and energy with the interviews. It was a busy and very productive day and I believe the apprentices benefited greatly from the experience. The positive approach and the feedback they received will definitely build their confidence and will encourage them to improve on their skills for future job applications.