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By Shane Clausing
wired-2-hire reboot

Wired 2 Hire Reboot program looking to kickstart career success for young adults

Oct 31, 2021 | 6:41 AM

A new program created by the Grande Prairie Regional Association of Volunteer Organizations is hoping to get young adults facing challenges in the region back on their feet and heading in the right direction in life.

The Wired 2 Hire Reboot program is being funded by the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, along with sponsorship from both the Government of Alberta and the City of Grande Prairie.

Executive Director Carol-Anne Pasemko says the goal of this program is to get youth who face challenges working and on the right path to living a successful life.

“Everybody makes that mistake in your early adulthood that takes you years to fix. Most people have a support system around them, (but) some kids don’t, and what happens is some people start to spiral down,” she explained.

“We really wanted to put a safety net under that particularly vulnerable population group, so they’re not spiraling down.”

The program is open to young adults between the ages of 18-30 and is a 12-week program. The goal of the program is to find a path for each individual to achieve their employment goals.

“Youth come into the program and we do an individual assessment with each one of them to figure out what it is they need. Having said that, there are skills all of the youth need. They need digital skills, green skills and communication skills,” she said.

“Those are huge kinds of areas that we know they’re going to need. And also, to build up their resilience and grit to finish things.”

During the 12-week program, Pasemko says they look at putting participants with employers in the area.

“We aren’t just trying to say they have to go into food service or retail, we want them look at what interests them and try to match them up with employers in those kinds of areas. So it’s not just a, its a quality job and maybe (it’ll) be the start of a career process with them.”

Pasemko adds they’ve added various people to help teach the courses. Some of the teachers also speak various languages like Spanish and French.

Four weeks of the program will involve an in-class portion, while eight weeks will have students working in the workplace.

Students will also be fed breakfast and lunch throughout the 12-week course. Pasemko mentioned this was important for her, as some of the students who could potentially be enrolling in this course are not in the best living situations.

You can register for the course by emailing rebootinfo@wired2hire.com

by Shane Clausing