Mission employable

Four hundred soon-to-be graduates from secondary schools around the region made their way to the Pearson Convention Centre last Thursday for the fifth annual Mission Employable conference. 

Jointly organized by the Peel and Dufferin-Peel Boards of Education, the event seeks to assist and resource grade 12 students intending to move directly from the classroom to the world of work.

The aim is to encourage the students to approach the transition with confidence and due preparation, and to help them to begin to reconnoitre the marketplace for job opportunities. With that in mind, the day’s activities were designed to discuss such topics as career mapping, resume writing, self-promotion and doing well in an interview, and to give the participants a chance to talk to prospective employers.

The morning began for the students and their co-op teachers and guidance counsellors with an orientation gathering in the main hall emceed by Dufferin-Peel’s student success program leader David Coules. After a positive thought for the day, and welcoming remarks from Dufferin-Peel superintendent of program Marianne Mazzorato, Coules introduced the keynote speakers:

Corin “Pinky” Ames, an apprentice with celebrity contractor Mike Holmes on the “Holmes on Homes” television program, spoke of her decision to leave school and enrol in the Women in Skilled Trades initiative. Her youthful enthusiasm won a receptive audience for her message of the need for a sense of direction and an I-can-do-it attitude, hard work and a determination to learn something new every day.

Peel constable Brenda Pennington spoke of her post-secondary training at police college and five years on an underwater search team. Now a member of the Internet child exploitation unit, she warned of the possible dangers in cyberspace—“not all exits on the virtual highway are safe”. Who knows, she cautioned, when a cavalier use of Facebook or text messaging might surface to compromise a job application?

Next up, for one group of students, was some interactive drama with the Mixed Company Theatre troupe. A number of amusing set pieces were staged to demonstrate all the dos and don’ts and possible pitfalls of the job interview/business lunch scenario. The audience was quick to identify the importance of appropriate attire and good grooming, voice projection and eye contact, employment experience and positive references—and just as quick to pounce on examples of disrespect, ill-preparation and inflated ego.

Next door, other students were attending 20-minute professional carousel presentations about accident prevention in the workplace, landscaping, carpentry, the food service industry and the Canadian armed forces.

A third group of participants was further down the hall in a job fair environment featuring thirty area businesses, community agencies and recruitment organizations. It was an excellent opportunity to visit display booths, make connections, quiz representatives one-on-one, and collect literature and promotional materials.

The networking continued at lunch, as the adult reps and spokespeople joined the students for food and conversation.

At the end of the day, after everyone had experienced each of the activities, the large group reassembled for closing remarks from Ian Adamson, the Peel Board’s superintendent of alternative programs and student success.

It was an eventful and, from all reports, very satisfying day for the students—a day that will have gone a long way towards assuring them that they are, indeed, most employable.