Teens are basically adults in training. At YES we’re all about helping teens develop into successful adults. But what exactly does that entail? This week, YES asked 381 Ithaca teens what they think makes for a successful adult. For the most part, when the question was posed to a group of students, the first person to answer would almost always say money or a job. The next person in every group would typically respond by saying happiness or meaningful relationships. Once those standard answers were out of the way, we heard some really interesting opinions and well thought out ideas about what makes an adult successful. One person confidently presented a three part answer that boils down to this: to be a successful adult, one must know how to deal with problems efficiently, evaluate situations before coming to conclusions and value logic above all else. “I’ve thought about this before,” she said with a smile. Another teen said to be successful, an adult must have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. While his friends made fun of him for plagiarizing the Declaration of Independence, he explained that to be successful, you must first be able to keep yourself alive, you must be capable of independence, and you must be constantly working toward the things that make you happy. Success, by definition, is accomplishing your goals, and adults are simply people who are fully developed. Basically, a successful adult is someone who is fully developed and accomplishes their goals. So how does YES help teens develop into successful adults? Summer Jobs Program Twenty percent of the teens we spoke with said that having a good job and/or making money is what makes an adult successful. Money may not buy happiness, but it sure does buy food and shelter, and to be successful in life, food and shelter are the foundation of survival. Our Summer Jobs Program is a great way for teens to get an early, paid work experience. Not only do our teens make money, but they develop important transferable skills, such as teamwork, communication, initiative, and problem solving, which they will be able to use in every future job they have. Check out the #StartWithYES section of our blog to see how YES teens of the past have grown into successful adults by getting their first summer job through YES. We will begin interviewing for our 2017 Summer Jobs Program starting on March 27th. Download the application here. YES Connect If success is measured by meeting your goals, then YES Connect is the key to success. In YES Connect, we begin by interviewing applicants to get to know them. From there, we challenge them to think about their goals. We want to know that their future career goals are, what their financial goals are, and what their goals for participating in the YES program are. More often than not, teens hope to find private employment. Once a teen has established their goals, we assist them in creating an action plan. If a teen’s goal is to get a job, we might encourage them to build a resume, apply to several places, make follow up phone calls, and prepare for their interview by attending a YES workshop about improving their interviewing skills. Even if they don’t end up getting the jobs they’ve applied for, completing each step of their action plan is a small success, a small goal that has been achieved. The practice of setting up goals for yourself and completing tasks to meet those goals is an excellent way to set yourself up for success as an adult. To join YES Connect, fill out our application and call the YES office at 273-8364 to set up an interview. Being a successful adult will look different for just about everyone. As you train for adulthood, consider joining YES. We have over 35 years of experience helping teens mature into successful adults. Name: Matt Bargar Current Job: I currently help to make software that teaches elementary school students how to read. My role is a programmer and coach to other programmers. YES Job: When I was a YES teen, I was a receptionist at Lite 97 FM. Working at the front desk at a radio station was a great introduction to the world of work. I got to learn about all the different jobs that make up a radio station -- I even got to write some ads, and choose some songs that got played on the air! My favorite task, though, was answering the phone when the DJs ran contests... To this day, I often answer the phone, "Calling about the contest? You're caller number one, thanks for calling!" In the world of smartphones and text messages, the art of leaving a professional voice message has all but vanished. Check out this quick tip from Emily about how to leave a voice message. Something about an impending February break always makes me think of summer. I’ve always been of the opinion that if you can make it to February break, you can make it through March. And if you can make it through March, April break is just around the corner. By the time April break is over, it might as well be summer. Ridiculous as my logic may be, here at YES, we are already hard at work planning for our Summer Jobs Program. Beverly is securing funding so we can pay our teens, Penny and Brent are calling businesses we’ve never worked with to see if they would consider partnering with YES, and Emily is updating documents and databases to prepare them for the impending summer season. With summer fast approaching, YES asked Ithaca’s teens what their ideal summer job would be. About half of the teens we spoke with were interested in the kinds of summer jobs you might expect, like being a camp counselor, working at a restaurant, lifeguarding, farming, dog walking, working in retail or scooping ice cream. The other half included a wide variety of activities, from working at a bank, to landscaping, to working at an amusement park. For the most part, Ithaca’s teens want to work during the summer doing the kind of work you’d expect to see teens do during the summer. But a few really surprised us and thought outside of the box, and even outside of Ithaca. Here are 3 of the more out-of-the-box responses we heard, and ways those teens could actually get the summer jobs of their dreams… White House Intern Sounds crazy, right? This internship actually exists, and is designed to help participants learn more about the Executive Office and develop their leadership skills. Unfortunately for most high schoolers, you must be 18 by the time the internship starts to qualify. If you’re a senior with an interest in civics and government, this internship could be a good option. Click here for more information. If you're not quite old enough for the White House Internship, but you still think you’d like to spend your summer working for the government and learning about what it takes to lead the country, check out this opportunity, and also take a look at this. Both offer a variety of ways to get into government work as a teen, including being a page for the Senate. Google Intern Unfortunately for high school students, Google’s internships are geared toward college students and recent college graduates. The Computer Science Summer Institute is meant for students preparing for their first year of college to study computer science. This program is not paid, but it could be a cool way to build your resume if you hope to go into a computer science field. Check it out here. For high school students who are interested in coding and working specifically for Google, check out the Google Code-In. This is a global, online contest for teens of any age to learn about open source, complete small open source tasks, and win prizes in the process. It may not be an official job, but if you do well, you could end up winning some money. Check it out. A Nanny… Like Mary Poppins without the Singing For a teen with an interest in caring for children locally for the summer, a good starting point could be care.com. On this site, you can post your profile so families can learn more about you before offering you a nanny job. Additionally, you can browse jobs to see what you might qualify for. This site also allows you to offer to care for the elderly, pets, and even do housekeeping. It’s a bit like the “jobs” section of Craigslist, only way less sketchy. If you’re more interested in being au pair, living abroad and caring for children, you might consider checking out Workaway. This sight is meant to help travelers interested in working connect with hosts and jobs overseas. It is not just for au pairs, but you could certainly find live-in childcare work using this site. One of the best things about this site is that it allows travelers to review their hosts and the jobs they got, so you can see if the person or organization you’ll be working for is legit. For the rest of Ithaca’s teens -- the more practical and conventional thinkers -- consider working through YES this summer. We offer many of the high demand summer jobs, like working at summer camps, food service, or in retail, but we are also always looking to partner with new businesses and organizations to ensure that all of our teens have a meaningful work experience over the summer. For more information about our Summer Jobs Program, stop by and see us at the Youth Bureau any time, IHS during lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays, LACS at lunch most Wednesdays, and BOCES and New Roots by appointment.
Name: La Toya Benton Current Job: I currently work as an administrative assistant at the Ithaca Youth Bureau, helping out with the recreational department programs and front office assistant. YES Job: When I was 15 years of age I was hired to be a finical clerk through the YES summer program for a company where I was to mange all clerical duties. After working my summer job with the YES program, the company I worked for decided to hire me. I worked there for 16+ years. I recently received an opportunity to work for the Ithaca Youth Bureau after those 16 years, and I am now currently working for the IYB as an administrative assistant. Funny how things can come full circle sometimes. If you got your start with YES, we'd love to share your story! Take 5 minutes to fill out the #StartWithYES form. Check out Brent's killer explanation of how to make a follow up phone call after you submit an application! We've been working hard to get our YouTube Channel up and running. In these videos, we introduce our year-round YES Team. |