What Employers and Parents Hoped Would Be Discovered: Optional Work Experience for Y Generation

June 27, 2012 - PRLog -- Grand Junction, Colorado – Tinker Barnett has officially put workplace readiness companies on notice: teaching young people how to make themselves desirable candidates to prospective employers is now easier and more effective than ever before.

Genlinks-“Make Life Real” is a Summer 2012 Career Experience for young people ages 14 to 25, at the Western Colorado Botanical Gardens, 655 Struthers Avenue on the Riverside Parkway in Grand Junction, Colorado. The event offers a work experience for their resumes and meaningfulness for their lives.

The program runs four weeks from July 9th through July 31st, every Monday and Tuesday from 8:00 am to noon. Participants can attend the first 2-week session beginning July 9th or the second session starting on July 23rd.  The class is $20 per student.

Participants will learn about meaning and purpose in work and how to make themselves valuable to prospective employers. Teaching will include classroom instruction on workplace basics, followed by team gardening exercises led by a staff Master Gardener. The purpose of the latter is to teach team work, leadership, staying on task, taking directions, and understanding the importance of giving back to their community. The class and volunteer experience can also be used as a resume builder.  

Young people are missing out on work experiences, something employers want most. Two problems are keeping young people out of a work experience; there are fewer job openings and baby boomers returning to work are taking the part-time retail, fast-food and assistant positions normally available to students. As the most unemployed age group of the U.S. population, Gen Yers ages 16 to 19, are missing work experience that is closely tied to their future success in the labor market.

As Tinker added, “Our work readiness class has gone the workplace readiness business one better. Where most companies in this market attempt to teach young people about work in conjunction with traditional academics, our hands-on career experience provides a narrow focus on skills for today’s workplace and an understanding of the value and meaning of work.”

Student-volunteers will get:

1.   A work experience for their resume
2.   Accomplishment through teamwork and leadership
3.   Knowledge of what to expect in today’s workplace
4.   New ways of working and effecting change
5.   Meaning and purpose in work

“The purpose of GenLinks –“Make Life Real” is to create a working process for young people to awaken potential for understanding traditional ways of working and also working to have meaning and purpose. In the learning process, students will develop new ways of working that generate value in and for the Gardens, visitors, the community and themselves,” says Tinker.

Register before July 9th and find out about scholarships at http://www.MakeLifeReal.com. A $20 check can be mailed to 586 Preserve Lane, Grand Junction, CO 81507.

For media inquiries, to arrange for an interview or an expert quote, please contact Tinker at 970-589-0020.

"Ms. Barnett is one of those rare individuals who has the ability to relate to young people with sincerity and respect. She can analyze and articulate an individual student's challenge but can also see the global issues of skills students need to be successful in employment and life." Daniel R. Robinson, Esq., former Director of Grand Mesa Youth Services Center

Tinker Barnett has a BA in Sociology and Business Administration. She is a member of the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce and Toastmasters and has over 30 years of experience in employee supervision and mentoring young people. Bridges LLC is headquartered in Grand Junction, Colorado, Mesa County and provides literacy tutoring to at-risk youth through Hilltop Community Resources. http://www.MakeLifeReal.com.