Tip 5 - Get the skills
- Young people will need a wide range of employability skills in their future studies and work. These include skills in:
- communication
- team-work
- planning
- organisation
- problem solving
- working independently
- using initiative
- time management
- Other relevant and important skills to help your young person learn include:
- job seeking
- leadership
- negotiation
- conflict resolution
- goal setting, and
- decision-making skills
- It is important that young people have opportunities to practice these skills while they are still at school.
- For example, do they have the skills to communicate appropriately in different situations? The way they talk to their friends may be very different to the way they should communicate with their teachers, colleagues, or employer.
- Discuss with your young person other practical skills that will be very important after school. Without considering practical issues, young people may struggle to decide on realistic post-school pathways. Some things to discuss include:
- How will they get to TAFE, university, or the workplace?
- Can they travel independently?
- Can they find their way to other places for meetings or lunch?
- Are they able to manage their own money?
- Encourage your young person to get actively involved in career planning and work experience at school
- School based career development programs will help students develop important skills. An example is the School to Work program in public schools.
- Young people may also like to consider studying vocation based subjects while still at school, for example HSC Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses. There are vocational subjects in areas including business services, hospitality, information technology and primary industries.
- Students can also study vocational courses at TAFE while still at school. These are called TVET courses.
- They could also consider a school based apprenticeship or traineeship. These provide an opportunity to gain a nationally recognised VET qualification as well as the HSC.
- Being able to access and use technology is extremely important in most post-secondary settings.
- How are your young person's skills in using computers, the Internet and other technologies?
- Help them research the types of skills they will need in different settings.
- Encourage them to practice and learn new skills if necessary.
- There is equipment, support and assistive technology available to help people access and use computers and other technology. These are often called assistive technologies. Some examples are speech recognition software, on-screen keyboards, and software that can read text aloud.
- Will your young person need any assistance to access technology? Have they used it in the past? If a young person can explain what their technology needs are it will be easier for others to help them access it.
- There are some great free applications which can help people to access technology. AccessApps offers over 50 free assistive technology applications.
