York Youth and Discover help students explore career opportunities
By Jon Yaneff

Employment advisor for the York Region District School Board MaryLynn Colasanti and employment coach Carol Campbell are two core reasons the York Youth and Discover programs help young adults discover their career paths.

Students in high school or just starting college often have no idea which career path to explore.

They may start training in a certain field, only to discover a year into their schooling that the path they started isn't right for them.

York Youth and Discover are career and employment programs of the York Region District School Board (YRDSB), funded by Employment Ontario. These programs focus mainly on two avenues, career exploration or job searches and employment assistance for people aged 15 to 30.

York Youth provides employment support and referral services to these young adults. The services include job search assistance with resumes, cover letters and interview skills, as well as guidance in obtaining apprenticeships, wage subsidy, internships, skills development and selfemployment options.

"When students are 15, what they learn about themselves over the next two to three years changes immensely," said MaryLynn Colasanti, an employment advisor for YRDSB employment programs and services. "What we find is we need to help them do some further career assessment and self discovery to help them find the right match for their occupation, that's what Discover is about."

Discover, facilitated by employment coach Carol Campbell, is a four-day workshop, between 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. During the first two days, in-depth analysis is strung to ensure these young adults are making right choices based on their interests, aptitude, skills and strengths. The third day has them research different career options, such as colleges or universities that may offer certain programs. In the last day, Campbell works one-on-one with the individuals to review and develop an action plan as well as narrow down their career choices, whether they are looking toward summer work in the short-term or career preferences in the long-term.

The next Discover workshop is March 25 to 28, at 10909 Yonge St., suite 202, Richmond Hill.

"I try to empower the students, so then they go back to their parents and communicate with them," explained Campbell. "They are helped to discover their passions and they feel validated."

"We've had many students say, 'I've worked in a retail store and I like working with people, but I don't like listening to complaints and I'm not very good at dealing with people who get angry or upset," said Colasanti. "We would try to understand what their abilities are in this case and focus in on that. We evaluate everything from their strengths, confidences, interests and soft skills (personality, temperament) versus hard skills (are you analytical, an abstract thinker, creative or organized)."

York Youth as a whole combines employment advisors and coaches to help youth develop their action plans and steps they need to take to achieve their goals.

"After a student meets with an employment advisor, they are encouraged to go to the Discover workshop, and based on the info and results obtained, they develop an understanding of themselves and what they want," said Colasanti. "It's not about us making their decisions, it's about us as professionals helping each student, young adults and any client that comes here feel they are making the right choice for them."

Also the Discover Series, which is March 26, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., is another opportunity dedicated to help find meaningful summer employment to youth and young adults.

Employment advisors at YRDSB work with many York Region high schools, such as King City Secondary School and Cardinal Carter SS, where they interact with guidance and co-op heads to help spread employment programs into the community.

"We try to find summer jobs to help them for their future and something that can potentially lead you into a career path," said Colasanti. "If you like working outdoors maybe something working in a conservation area would allow that student to investigate and explore what it is that makes them happy. It gives them a chance to not just enhance their resume, but also to obtain contacts and network into future opportunities."

"Internet is also big," she added. "Probably about 60 to 70 per cent of young people look for work on the Internet."

The head of guidance at KCSS, Dan Pedersen, said he encourages students to start their summer job searches as early as the end of April by distributing their resumes, because they also compete with college students.

"Young adults and students make subtle mistakes while searching for summer employment, such as they are in a hurry and are afraid they are going to run out of time," explained Colasanti. "They may have a great resume, but during their interview something goes wrong and they don't get hired. We work on that a little more at York Youth."

She said volunteering is also a good idea for students to gain experience for future employment. Helpmates is a community service site organization that is a volunteer network that helps people give back to the community.

YRDSB also has another location, the Sutton Employment Resource Centre, (yrdsb.edu.on.ca/erc) which provides personalized employment services similar resources as York Youth and Discover.

For more information on York Youth or Discover call 1-866-992-9930 or visit www.yorkyouth.ca.