GRAND TeenWORKs ‘boot camp’ helps Minnesota teens land that first job
It’s a two-week boot camp that prepares teens for the workforce.
And there’s clearly a lot of spit-and-polish going on.
“Energy, confidence, enthusiasm—all fantastic. Please call me when you want a job,” says one impressed business owner from northern Minnesota.
Every summer for the past seven years, the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce has hosted the GRAND TeenWORKs program, for teens aged 14 to 17. Employer designed and driven, the GRAND TeenWORKs program offers workplace-focused activities and opportunities that complement academic learning in local schools.
And the transformation, for dozens of Itasca County teens, is truly something to see.
“GRAND TeenWORKs teaches teens the skills to get their first job, and get them started thinking about career pathways,” says Bud Stone, president of the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce. “It’s amazing to me—the first day the kids come in, a lot of them are looking at their shoelaces.
“Two weeks later,” he adds, “they can create a resume. They can interview successfully. They make eye contact. They shake hands. They can talk to people. The change is absolutely remarkable.”
With origins stretching back about 15 years, when a need was identified to match local workers with skills gaps, the GRAND TeenWORKs program was first backed by Itasca County Health and Human Services.
Through corporate support from the likes of the Blandin Foundation, Minnesota Diversified Industries, Enbridge, the Northland Foundation, and the Iron Range Resource and Rehabilitation Board, the program has doubled its capacity since 2015.
Topics covered during this two-week workshop include:
- Cover letters, resume writing and interviewing;
- Leadership qualities, elevator speeches, and communication in the workplace;
- Personal brand and social media reputation;
- Career and life values; and
- Budget and finance.
“If there is one major takeaway here, it’s that these teens see their future—and understand how and why their education is important to their eventual careers,” says Paula Frings of Maven Perspectives LLC, which leads the GRAND TeenWORKs program in Itasca County.
To complement the training, the program also offers real-world opportunities and a hint of career possibility to the teens, through:
- Guest speakers from local businesses;
- Field trips to local institutes and businesses;
- Volunteer activities with the local United Way chapter; and
- A speed interview session with representatives from the regional workforce.
“Every one of the employers we spoke to said that if they were presented with equally qualified job candidates, they would choose a GRAND TeenWORKs graduate,” says Frings. “In our program, teens are taught to build on their natural, inherent strengths.
“They think: ‘This is me. And I should be proud of me.’ ”
(TOP PHOTO: Teens in the GRAND TeenWORKs program in Grand Rapids, MN, perform volunteer work with the local United Way.)
