Wired 2 Hire Youth Program. Photo Credit: wired2hire.ca

By Shane Clausing

Wired 2 Hire Youth Program

Wired 2 Hire Youth Program accepting applications

Mar 7, 2020 | 5:00 AM

The Grande Prairie Volunteer Services Bureau (GPVSB) is accepting youth participant applications for the Wired 2 Hire Youth Program.

The program began back in 2014 and takes six weeks to complete. It’s free and is a part-time training opportunity open to ages 16 – 30 who reside within the City of Grande Prairie and surrounding area. The program runs from March 12 to April 25, 2020.

The program is designed by the GPVSB to provide skills and attitudes that can help youth build life skills and find employment.

There are three components to the program that entrants must complete; these include six pre-employment soft skills workshops, five core short training certification courses and a volunteer practicum with local non-profit and charity organizations.

Participants in the program have the opportunity to work on five industry certificates:

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• First aid
• Food safe
• Rent smart
• Getting their learners license
• Customer service-based program

The reason the Bureau chose the five programs listed above is because they’re skills that help make participants employable and help to build a resume.

The program and volunteer practicum are scheduled to fit around most people’s schedules, so many of the courses are offered on nights and weekends.

Carol-Anne Pasemko is the Executive Director for GPVSB and says it’s tough to turn people away, especially if they are committed to putting in the hard work while in the program.

“Youth are selected based on their commitment to complete. We’ve had a lot of different kids pass through this program through the years and basically, we don’t turn anybody away. We’ve had kids with disabilities, single parents, different ethnic groups, english as a second language speakers, you name it we’ve put them through,” said Pasemko.

Pasemko says a program like this is important because it teaches youth important soft skills that they could use on a daily basis, something that a lot of people struggle with.

“If you look statistically the Chief Executive Organization came out in 2013, and said we look at youth and they’re lacking this soft skills component, they’re lacking communication skills, lacking the ability to work in teams and integrate. We looked at that and we thought we could teach that really easy.”

Pasemko explained that this program is also used to inspire confidence in the youth.

“We never set it up as an employment program, we set it up as a program to get youth volunteering and to get our volunteering organizations looking at youth as a viable resource, that’s how we initially set it up. That’s still the purpose of the program. We’ve had youth that have come back and say, ‘as a result of this program I got a raise, I got a better job or I got hired,’ it looks great on a resume.”

If you’re interested in joining the program you can fill out an application here.