Tlicho students prepare to enter labour market
Youths complete job readiness program
Daron Letts
Northern News Services
Monday, November 9, 2015
GAMETI/RAE LAKES
Ten young people in Gameti built their self-confidence while expanding their employment skills as part of the NWT Mine Training Society's new four-week Tlicho Government job readiness program last month.
The 10 students, all in their 20s and early 30s, participated in a two-week course designed to enhance self-esteem followed by the society's introduction to the workforce course, adapted to fit Tlicho needs. Subjects covered include problem-solving, communications, money-management and hands-on resume and job interview preparation.
The students capped the program off last week with a series of simulated formal job interviews conducted by society general manager Hillary Jones and job coach Jessica Riddle, who gave each student feedback following the exercise.
"We were really pleased with the caliber of students we had. They were just fabulous," said Jones.
Jones said the students' job readiness skills came a long way in one month.
"It's a completely different group of people," she told News/North on Nov. 5. "They have their futures ahead of them. They see a future and we can take them on and help them find employment."
Initiated by the Tlicho Government with society involvement, the program is a pilot project designed to prepare young people from Tlicho communities for the job market.
The course is scheduled to begin in Whati today and then in the new year it is slated to begin in Wekweeti on Jan. 4 and in Behchoko on Feb. 8.
"We're looking forward to Wekweeti and Whati because they're more remote and smaller than Gameti so it will have a different effect there," said Jones. "When you're from a small community you don't know what's out there."
Sometimes young people in the four Tlicho communities face obstacles to employment that differ from some of their more urban counterparts, said Phoebe Ann Wetrade, career development co-ordinator for the Tlicho Government in Behchoko.
"In a small community, there's so many barriers - remoteness, lack of jobs in the community, a lack of computer literacy," said Wetrade. "This program helps clients find the right networks. It gives them the confidence."
For students who need it, the society can also help with paperwork as part of the records suspension process.
Interested Tlicho youth can become involved with the program by contacting the career development officer in their community, said Wetrade.
