LOCAL NEWSYouth Job Centre Opens for the Summer

The Manitoba Youth Job Centre (MYJC) in Niverville is back in business. The office, which provides assistance to young people looking for work, opened for the season on May 14 and will remain open until August 17.

Holly Smith, the centre’s Youth Engagement Leader, says that the centre has a lot to offer, including the odd job squad, one-one-one coaching, and a referral system to connect young people with local jobs.

“The odd job squad will be giving [young people] really valuable first job skills,” says Smith. “Things like strawberry picking, door-to-door sales, and maybe some yard work. Things that will give them experience with food-handling, money-handling, working with people, and building some personal connections.”

According to Smith, many people associate the MYJC entirely with the odd job squad, but she points out that there’s a lot more to the centre than that.

In addition to hosting information sessions at local schools and setting up booths where interested students can talk to her, Smith says the biggest benefit of the program is that young people can stop by the office for one-on-one coaching sessions. In these sessions, Smith can tailor the service to the individual and focus alternately on resume-building, improving job interview skills, and identifying references. She can also do on-the-spot job searching.

“We have a referral system, which I’m hoping will be pretty successful this year, where employers can come to us if they have open positions that they’d like to have filled, and then I can refer an individual that would be a good fit and has the qualifications for that,” says Smith.

Another opportunity, which has never taken place at the Niverville branch before, is the First Job Training Program. Smith describes this program as a nearly full-day training session that can help young people get their foot in the door.

“That’s an option we have where young people in the community, if they don’t have terribly much experience, can come down for a training session,” Smith says. “It involves us going through [a curriculum], including how do you relate to customers, and how do we do budgeting, things like that.”

At the end of the training, each participant receives a certificate to help them land their first job. 

“The First Jobs Training Program would be an opportunity for young people to learn more about employment standards, customer service skills, money management, and leadership skills,” she adds. “If enough interest was shown, I would be happy to run this free program, because I would love to help young people gather skills for the workplace.”

Smith’s office is located at 86 Main Street and is open every business day from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. An informational open house has been scheduled for Tuesday, June 5, which would be a perfect opportunity for people to drop in and start their job-hunting journey.