Rarely is it the case that some people from a work and life skills training graduating class are unable to attend the ceremony because the teaching content was so effective that they already got jobs with clashing employment hours.
The Clarkson Foundation Graduation Sunday provided such an instance when only 17 of the 29 graduands were able to receive certificates in person because the others were at newly found jobs based on the course training. And of the four among the 17 who attended the ceremony in the constituency office of St James North Member of Parliament, Edmund Hinkson, three are employed but were fortunate not to have clashing work hours that day.
This is the third of the Clarkson Foundation Work and Life Skills Programme, known as Vibes. Foundation Chairman and wife of the MP, Beverly Smith-Hinkson said the past two courses also had a high success rate.
“We’ve been heartened from the first programme to see our graduates go out into the work world and… running their own businesses, or they’re working for people but able to rise within the organisation.
“We’re seeing persons already achieving through the confidence that they gained in the programme. Vibes Life Skills programme was set up to help young people in the community access these opportunities. We want to instil in you the confidence that you can do whatever you set your mind to do.”
MP Hinkson, the Foundation’s patron and Minister of Home Affairs, spoke of the double-barrelled approach in the training that comprises mock job interviews and business management.
“You prepare participants on how it would be at a real job interview, how to dress, to present yourself, to talk, to prepare, to impress those interviewing you.”
He went on to stress the importance of young people knowing how to use their resources for self-employment: “You might have the raw skills and talents but still this programme will help you acquire skills on how to run your business. That is where a lot of our people fall down.”
“We did anger management, conflict resolution, key aspects of our society today,” he said, against a backdrop of increased reports of violence in society.
Daughter of the Hinksons, Erika, who graduated from the first class in 2015 and is now a director of the foundation testified that she entered the eight-week programme lacking in self-esteem and being unsure where she wanted her life to go, “I myself needed some of these skills to build myself. The way I was at that point in my life five years ago isn’t the person that I am here today”.
She spoke of the usefulness of training to project oneself five years in the future, “I’ve reached that point in the five years because of this programme”.
The teaching offered at the Vibes programme is commonly referred to as soft skills, but featured speaker and University of the West Indies lecturer in management and research, Dr Dwayne Devonish, said, “Soft skills are not really soft. There are a lot of people in this country that lack these skills”. He referred to persons in leadership positions including those with doctorates who are in need of that training.
Calling for the programme to be spread across Barbados, he urged graduands to “use your skills to help others in the community. Let yourself be the flagship, the light for your communities. Be a partner with a young person, the community. There are a lot of your people in need of these skills.” (GA)
