Winning Futures – Inspiring and preparing youth to succeed through mentoring.

Archive for May, 2011

A great way to engage students in the world of work is to take them on hands-on company tours. This allows students to see firsthand how a company is run, each person’s responsibility and role within a company, and how those jobs work together to form the whole.

Winning Futures students traveled to Fitzpatrick Manufacturing, a CNC machine shop and custom manufacturer. This annual tour gave the students an eyewitness account of some of the most innovative processes and operations that the manufacturing industry has to offer.

The tour was sponsored by Mike Fitzpatrick, President and Owner of Fitzpatrick Manufacturing in Sterling Heights. The goal of the tour was to educate students about the manufacturing industry and to expose them to the variety of jobs within manufacturing. Students were debriefed and given demonstrations on all the various jobs within an industrial workplace from the front desk to shipping and receiving. Students also learned how each department works together in overall company operations.

Winning Futures’ CEO, Kristina Marshall, received the Women Officials’ Network “Wonder Woman Award” for being a distinguished advocate for youth. The Women Official’s Network is an organization of elected officials, present and past, to promote women leaders in the public sector.  Past winners include Justice Maura Corrigan of the Michigan Supreme Court, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, and State of Michigan School Board Member Elizabeth Bauer.

Teaching students to go into an interview informed can set them above the competition. Winning Futures has a great track-record for preparing students to succeed.  When talking to students about going on interviews, it is helpful to lett them know about the five mistakes that inexperienced interviewees commonly make without realizing how devastating they can be to their chances of landing the job

1. Show up late … translation: “I’m irresponsible”.
2. Come to the interview knowing nothing about the company … translation : “I don’t care”.
3. Yawn during the interview … translation: “I’m bored”.
4. Avoid eye contact … translation: “I don’t mean what I say”.
5. Try to lie about something on your resume … translation: “I’m dishonest”.

Students need to know that this list does not include the most obvious “don’ts” like … bringing in a resume with errors, dressing inappropriately, being rude, swearing, and/or making racist/sexist/crude comments, etc.

Teens ofter question what is appropriate to wear to a job interview without feeling too dressed up or too underdressed.  At Winning Futures students are taught that when interviewing for a teen non-professional job, dress is a little different from applying for a full-time professional position. Dress should be, at the least, neat and tidy. Business casual is usually appropriate.

Examples would inclued:
~khakis and a neat tucked in polo shirt
~shoes should be moderate
~avoid extreme hairstyles or colors.
~keep makeup and perfume to a minimum
~no jeans or shorts, no tank tops, crop tops, or anything especially low cut (shirt or pants) or too short (skirt or blouse) – keeping everything professional is a must

The best tip – always ask the person who is making your appointment for the interview, “What do you suggest I wear to the interview?”

At Winning Futures, we have secured $5,000 in private funds to be able to offer our life skills and goal-setting workbooks, handbooks, and training program to organizations focusing on youth development (mentoring programs, schools, and churches). Agencies interested in implementing our evidence-based curriculum into their program just need to fill out a very SHORT application on our website www.WinningFuturesBooks.org.

Selected programs will receive the workbooks, handbooks, and training at no cost! Samples of the books and topics are also on our website.

We initially developed the workbooks to be used internally to our organization with mentors, and now schools and non-profits in 30 states have integrated them into their agencies! The program has been deemed “evidence-based” by Saginaw Valley State University through pre- and post assessments with students, mentors, and teachers (these tools will also be provided to programs).

Applications are due June 1st. www.WinningFuturesBooks.org