On a Saturday morning in February, our Education and Career Resources team hosted Mercy Home’s annual Job Skills Seminar. Our aspiring young professionals donned their best business attire, and volunteers from several Chicago-area companies led breakout sessions, sharing important knowledge, experiences, and insights on career success.
Many of our youth were never taught the skills they need to land a job and keep it.
The seminar was a great opportunity our young people to learn valuable professional and communication skills that they will need to land a job and keep it. These are skills that benefit them in their daily lives as well.
“We do this annually to give our youth an opportunity to practice the job skills that we teach them throughout the year,” said Liz Tomka, Mercy Home’s vice president of education and career resources.
Before the sessions, participants watched a skit performed by two volunteers who demonstrated examples of both a good and a bad job interview. Everyone then discussed what the interviewer did or did not do well, and how the characters could improve their performance in a real-world interview.
During the on-the-job-basics sessions, our young people were shown video scenarios of good and bad examples of how to do a job, how to manage their emotions at work, and how to communicate effectively to their coworkers. They then answered thought-provoking questions about the videos, which helped them discover their own values, and imagine how they might conduct themselves in similar situations.
Derek Froman, an attorney at Thompson Coburn LLP, volunteered for the first time at our Job Skills Seminar.
“I honestly didn’t know what to expect, but the kids were incredible. They were so engaged, [and] they asked great questions.”
Derek Froman, attorney at Thompson Coburn LLP
In the mock interview sessions, our kids were paired with volunteers, and practiced interviewing for positions. They received helpful advice and were graded based on their professionalism and confidence.
“It’s helpful for them to meet with a [professional] to help reiterate the messages, but also for them to practice those skills, with [them],” Tomka said.
Additionally, our young people learned the importance of introducing themselves in a professional manner to an employer. Afterwards, they crafted an elevator pitch and practiced it with the volunteers. In their pitches, they had to state who they were, their goals, and their asks.
“They were getting live feedback from volunteers,” said Gabriel Avalos, Mercy Home’s post-secondary career options coordinator. It was great [for them] to get someone else’s input.”
In the fourth session, they learned about professional communication. Our kids examined a poorly written email from an employee that requested time off from work. Then, they learned how to recraft the email in a respectful and professional manner, which showed them how to communicate clearly through email.
Avalos also praised the volunteers for their enthusiasm and professionalism throughout the seminar.
“The volunteers did a great job at connecting with our youth,” he said. “They were able to give our kids meaningful advice at each station. They were able to make it fun and light. The youth left feeling very confident.”
Thank you to all our volunteers from the following who made this a special experience for our young people:
Mercy Home’s Associate Board, Thompson Coburn LLP, Target, UPS, AArete, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, Robert Half, BlackRock, Harris Associates, Clyde & Co, and Valley Bank.
Comments