Soft Skills Training
Breaking barriers and preparing for self-sufficiency includes teaching universal soft skills every employer wants.
These people skills help our youth not only get the job, but also keep the job – such as what respect looks like to the employer. If these skills are not learned at home, they are not typically assimilated in high-school, college, vocational school, or other mainstream education venues.
ALMS training involves weekly, structured business meetings where ALMS youth conduct every aspect of the meeting following specific roles laid out in the ALMS curriculum. These roles teach the student to 1) conduct and lead business meetings; 2) facilitate 30 second impromptu Q&A sessions among their peers, which helps prepare for future interviews, 3) perform post-meeting assessments to analyze the professionalism of the meeting and areas to improve, and 4) timekeeper responsibility to enforce limits on speaking time and overall meeting length to impress the importance of efficiency and conciseness in business meetings.
Within the weekly business meeting structure, to help illustrate each lesson and provide relatability, ALMS mentors contribute their personal stories and experience that bear upon developing a work ethic, developing character, personal resilience, taking responsibility, and getting along with others on the job. After the main lesson, small group discussion occurs for youth to reflect on the material and prepare for a Q&A around the same topic.