Just Say YES to High School Graduates
By Eileen Kennedy, The Telegraph, Nashua, N.H.
Apr. 5–Some high school graduates go straight into the workforce instead of college, and the state wants to help them find good jobs.
This year, New Hampshire’s Department of Employment Security, which oversees unemployment benefits, wants to help those high school seniors looking for work find good entry levels jobs where they might be able to progress into a career.
In short, the department wants to say YES to them — and has created the NH Youth Employment Service, or YES, to focus attention on connecting youths with jobs.
And they’ll be looking for employers who want to partner with the department in hiring young people straight out of high school, with an eye to developing them as career employees.
On Tuesday, Department of Employment Security Commissioner Richard Brothers announced that the department, through its 13 local offices around the state, is reaching out to these seniors by making them aware of the department’s resources and connecting them with interested companies that need workers. Nashua’s Employment Security office is at 6 Townsend West, off of Route 101A.
“We’re talking about seniors who have no plans for college, or are putting college off for a year or two and those who aren’t going into the military,” Brothers said. “We want to help to try to find these kids good jobs, where they can start at 18 with some training, and at 30, if they work hard, they could still be working there and have a career there.”
The department wants the seniors to know about free workshops it holds, on topics like interviewing, which includes how to dress, what to say and how to act while they’re trying to convince an employer they’re the one to hire.
“With a lot of kids, no one has sat them down and told them all things that they should do,” Brothers said. “No one has said to them specifically, ‘Wear a nice shirt with a collar; wear a decent pair of pants — not jeans — and look the interviewer in the eye, shake their hand and wait to be asked to take a seat, don’t just sit down.’ “
Job counselors will also be talking to students about taking entry level jobs that allow for promotion and learning certain skills, Brothers said, and the importance of showing up on time and coming to work every day. “If you have a year of work under your belt, and you’re always on time, you’re not out sick very often and you do your work when you’re there, employers are very interested in you. That’s a big plus,” Brothers said.
The 13 local offices will offer these workshops, give tours of the offices where computers are available for writing resumes and looking for jobs and compiling information about potential employers that are willing to offer training to young people. Vocational and certificate program information will be made available, youth job fairs will be held and there will also be aptitude and interest testing available.
“This is a work in progress. Each of my local Employment Security offices has brainstormed to develop their own program to address the needs of young people in their labor market areas. They are the experts in their prospective labor market areas,” Brothers said.
The department also wants young people to know that it is a resource for workers throughout their career, when they want to upgrade their job search, create new resumes or look for specific training.
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