It can be hard to get back into a formal education structure if you haven’t been a part of it for a while. Structured classes, times, homework, tests and more all require adjustments. However, our career specialists work hard to ensure participants feel supported in our adult GED classes. These classes can supply supportive tutoring, test preparation, critical thinking, and other soft skill training. Our team of out-of-school career specialists work hard to ensure these young adults receive the foundation they need to pass their GED and also pursue what comes afterwards. This could involve prepping to take the ACT for college, career preparation training, and even assistance in choosing a career pathway that aligns with the student's interests.

We are so lucky at JOG to be able to have such a strong community of local partners. From donating time to bring JOG participants in JOG students for work opportunities and teaching valuable educational skills, to donating money to help expand in-class training, all donations are valuable, and we welcome them with thanks and open arms. One way that helps us provide quality events is through direct sponsorship for our events.

We all run into difficulty in life, whether they involve subjects we struggle with, family problems, and anything in between. At the end of the day, these challenges present opportunities to grow and become a better person! Miah is a JOG student who faced her challenges and with the help of her Career Specialist, Heidi Phillips, she was able to make significant strides.

The Like a Boss program at JOG offers our students (and staff) the opportunity to engage directly with our partners on a variety of topics. This can range from direct information into a field, the story of the employer and tips on how to succeed like they did, and even some more broad advice that can apply to a variety of career paths in the future. In one of our Like a Boss sessions, Noel Powers spoke on how online messaging and communication is key to building your future.

Jobs for Ohio’s Graduates is proud to have been able to make an impact on our community since 1987. Over this time, we have been able to impart career preparation and academic skills on generations to help build up our workforce. One great way we can keep these programs running so well is through great alumni engagement! Here are some direct ways that JOG alumni help perpetuate JOG’s mission and vision.

As Spring Break ends for many of our schools we are going into the homestretch for this school year. Before the end of the school year, JOG’s mission is to work with our students to ensure they have absorbed the career preparation lessons we teach and are ready to enter another year of soft skill training. For our students who have been though the program for a little while, we work to place them into a career-position, whether it be a job, a job shadow, an internship, or a summer job. We are always looking for more employers to engage with our students to build up tomorrow’s workforce. Here are a few ways you can engage with JOG to do exactly that!

At Jobs for Ohio’s Graduates, it’s all about helping our participants take crucial first steps into their educational and/or career path. When Rainbow joined JOG, she didn’t know what she was expecting. She joined to learn more about getting into a career with animals but didn’t know how to take those next steps to achieve her goal. Here is how Rainbow has been able to overcome her roadblocks to success.

It takes passion to be a solid Career Specialist at JOG. Passion to help young people, passion to teach, and passion to push people to go above and beyond. Lukas McCoy came to JOG after graduating from college with that exact passion. He has been a shining example of being able to execute on JOG’s mission to help grow the skills of today’s young people into tomorrow’s workforce.

What’s more fun than a fun challenge of your skills? Our annual Career Development Conference (CDC) gives students from across our 5 counties that exact chance! Our competitors get to put the educational and vocational training they have gained to the test in a variety of career-based topics. The events are built to cover a wide array of soft skills training topics that competitors will need when they are entering the workforce. These competitions range from classic head-to-head style challenges to presentations of work that has already been achieved, like the Cover Design and Students for Service competitions.

Career guidance, exploration and advancement is the backbone of what we do at JOG. We work hard to connect our youth with opportunities in fields they want to build a future in. We strive every day to be known as a “one-stop success shop” of career guidance, work readiness programs, and employment opportunities to prepare the next generation of in-school and out-of-school youth, for success at work, at home and as leaders in their communities. One of our annual hands-on ways we do this is through our Career Development Conference and Career Expo!

At Jobs for Ohio’s Graduates, part of our mission is to help students break out of their shells. This may involve developing better preparedness and reducing anxiety for job interviews, overcoming personal barriers, or simply gaining confidence in school. In the case of Nathan, he was able to become an outgoing student who went from reserved to active and attentive.

Generally, our blog interviews cover the great work getting done by our Career Specialists. However, our staff covers much more than in-school and out-of-school specialists now. We have a business engagement team, a documentation team, those working in juvenile justice, and more! One of the hard workers that we want to highlight is none other than Nicole Argirakis from our documentation team.

These Career Associations are in many of our classrooms. JOG offers these as options for our students to be able to build leadership, collaboration, and general soft skill training right in the classroom. The first step is for existing JOG students to go through an initiation process. This normally is a small ceremony that is hosted by the Career Specialist and sometimes the existing office holders. This is a time to celebrate the student’s continued dedication towards growing their own career knowledge through this association.

Youth employment is at the heart of what we do at Jobs for Ohio’s Graduates. Our goal is to set up the next generation of young people for success in pathways toward their career goals. We can’t do this without the help from our wonderful Employer Partners, who offer workplaces for our students to experience hands-on training, mentorship, and career exposure within their pathway of interest.

Simply put, we couldn’t do what we do without the help of our wonderful employers. It takes someone who is willing to take the extra step of not only employing JOG participants, but also being open to building up the next generation of the workforce through vocational training and guidance. Employers like Doug and his team at Akron Recreation & Parks are a great example of what that looks like.

We love to call our Career Specialists our JOG Superheroes because they are able to make such big impacts on our students’ lives. We do this through our unique education process in-school or out-of-school, helping students face challenges life presents them and everything in between. Specialists like Morgan are so important to helping our students grow into adulthood as well-rounded members of society.