Education & Training

Our services are delivered with the long term in mind — using employment as just one component of a career strategy. Given that many individuals have limited exposure to potential careers, our first priority is to connect them with options that best match their interests, skills and lifestyle. We then work with them to develop their potential and move them along a sensible career pathway that may include education and training or job advancement.

BOOSTING SKILLS
AND EARNING POTENTIAL

Education is integrated into all of Grant Associates programs as part of the career development continuum. We begin by exposing customers to alternate career options, while offering immediate access to skills and other learning opportunities that can maximize short-term earning potential. Our workshops cover professional development, resume writing, interviewing skills and computer literacy, as well as our ESL and TASC (formerly GED) instruction — all contextualized to the work setting. If local partners aren’t offering in-demand skills, Grant Associates works with training and education providers to develop courses that address those areas. Once our customers are employed, we engage them in further activities geared toward future advancement.

The workshops we offer include the following:

  • Employment Essentials: This two-day onboarding workshop provides a standardized approach to enrollment for those with high barriers that creates a consistent and predictable process for becoming enrolled in the Employment and Training Program.
  • Career Exploration: An overview of targeted sectors presented in a way that allows customers to learn how their transferrable skills may apply. We also utilize a career pathway framework and inform customers of advancement opportunities within the various fields through employment and education tracks, both within the resources of the program and through outside partners.
  • Resume Development: A review of standard resume structures and how they are used in today’s job market. This workshop offers guided lab time that allows customers with few resume-building skills to work directly with an expert.
  • Interview Skills: Discussion, activities and role-play to learn how to prepare for a job interview, perform in a job interview and properly follow-up afterwards.
  • Business Communications: Part customer service and part emotional intelligence. Participants learn customer-facing and internal colleague-facing interaction techniques including de-escalation techniques through discussion and role-play.
  • Financial Empowerment: Vital skills in personal financial literacy. Participants learn how to create and manage a household budget, how to take steps for debt reduction, and how to save and plan for the future.
  • Job Applications: Applying self-promotion techniques in submitting paper and electronic job applications. Participants will practice evaluating job applications to gain the “HR perspective” and learn to build a master job application.
  • Online Job Search: How to navigate online job sites such as Indeed and LinkedIn. Customers also learn how to set up job alerts to discover new opportunities more quickly. Other topics covered include professional email, email etiquette and social media rules.
  • Digital Skills: The capacity to operate a computer, tablet or mobile device is a crucial skill for most jobs. This hands-on workshop will reduce the digital divide for participants by allowing them to learn and practice operating PCs, Apple Devices and Android Devices.
  • You’ve got the Job, Now What? Advancement is the goal of this workshop where customers learn how to leverage their job, especially seemingly “dead-end” jobs, into future and better opportunities. This workshop discusses how to avoid common workplace pitfalls and how to be strategic in meeting colleagues within a company and within an industry at large.
  • Back to Basics: A soft skills workshop that covers general issues that occur in the workforce. Our goal is to address these issues in a fun yet professional manner. The workshop is interactive with group discussions, worksheets, videos, etc., and covers topics including: Time Management, Effective Communication, Dress for Success and Addressing Misconduct at Work.

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