The Career & Technical Education
Annual February 2013 Conference
B.E.S.T.
Basic Employability Skills Training
&
Job Readiness
Be the BEST you can be!
•BEST
Basic Employability Skills Training
• Job Readiness
Workforce Center Services
BEST beginnings
•
•
•
•
JC Workforce Summit, January 2005
Quality Workforce Committee
Missouri program (NEMO BEST)
Local development
Why BEST?
Need for a quality workforce
Industry skills can be taught
Soft skills cause many employees to lose
their jobs
Employers requested training in the soft
skills
7 BEST Workshops
Be There! – Looking Good
Power of a Positive Attitude
Keeping Your Job
Working with the Public/Customer
Service
5. Communicating Effectively
6. Resolving Conflict
7. Ethics in the Workplace
1.
2.
3.
4.
BEST Outline
• Stand alone Modules taught in 75-90
minute segments
• Employers, participants can select
areas of need/interest
• Training can be provided on-site for
schools, business and industry
Module 1: Be There! –
Looking Good
Deals with absenteeism and punctuality
•
Asks participants to plan ahead!
Participants consider various
appearance and grooming scenarios
for interview and workplace
Looking Good
• Definitely OK for WORKPLACE
• Definitely NOT OK for WORKPLACE
• IT DEPENDS
• chewing gum
• Budweiser© shirt
• cologne or after shave
• tennis/running shoes
• Sandals-flip flops
• tattoos
Power of a Positive Attitude
• Identify positive personal attributes
• Consider positive v. negative
approaches to various situations
Power of a Positive Attitude
• It’s not my job!
Keeping Your Job
• Focuses on behaviors and attribute of
quality employees -- workplace “etiquette”
Working with the
Public/Customer Service
• Who are your customers?
• Learn strategies for dealing with difficult
customers
• Paying attention to your customers!
Customer Service Quiz
1. The average company/organization
doesn’t hear from _____% of unhappy
customers.
2. An unhappy customer will complain about
a problem or poor service to ___ others;
13% will tell more than ___ people.
3. The average customer will only tell ____
others about the resolution of a problem.
Thinking positively:
• new here.
• I don’t think I can do that.
• I’m supposed to get off work in 5
minutes.
Effective Communication
• Learn/practice active listening
• Generations in the workplace
Communicating Effectively
Listening Skills Checklist
• Makes eye contact
• Facial expression is appropriate and shows
interest
• Body language/posture encourage speaker
• Paraphrases speaker to clarify and show
understanding
• Displays a positive attitude
• Doesn’t interrupt
• Ignores distractions
Resolving Conflict
• Strategies for managing conflict and
identifying sources of conflict
Dealing with difficult people
• The attention seeker
• The chronic complainer
• The hothead
• The backstabber
• A: Team member
• B: Team member
• C: The supervisor/mediator
“A” wants to be moved to another team,
because “B” has been making jokes at her
expense in front of other employees.
Although “A” says she has asked “B” to
stop, “B” has not only continued, he has
done it even more. “B” says that “A” is just
too sensitive and can’t take a joke. They
want you (“C”) to settle it.
I statements
1. Start with “When…”
ex. When people arrive late for their
shift…
2. Start with “I feel…”
ex. …I feel frustrated…
3. Start with “because…”
ex.…because we can’t meet our
production when we are short-handed.
Ethics in the Workplace
• Participants use real-life scenarios to
identify ethical/unethical choices and
behaviors
• Employee sabotage, personal and
company values
Certificate of
Completion
Module 8:
Ethics
This certificate is awarded to
Signature
Date
BEST
Basic Employability Skills Training
Module 7: Ethics
This certificate indicates the participant attended
training where the following
topics were presented:
Defining ethics
Considering behavioral options and consequences
Reviewing real life situations and making personal
decisions

Like everyone else, I've got
the same trucks.
Like everyone else, I've got
the same potatoes.
Like everyone else, I've got
the same machinery.
The only thing I can have
better is better people.
Herman Lay, entrepreneur
Workforce Centers
• 23 locations across the state
– Additional “virtual” locations
– Mobile Workforce Center
• Services offered
– Employer
– Job Seeker
– Youth
Virtual Services
www.virtualservices.kansasworks.com
Job Seeker
Workforce Center Recourses
• Initial Needs Assessments
• Career Planning
• Skills Assessment
• Labor Market Information
• Job Search
• Navigating the Internet
• Job Postings
• Job Fairs
Job Seeker
Workforce Center Recourses
• Resume
• Resume Writing Software
• Reviews and Critiques
• One-On-one Assistance
• Training
• WIA Training Programs
• Grant Programs
• Workshops
• Interviewing
• Resume
• Job Readiness
Job Seeker
Workforce Center Recourses
• Disability Resources
• Kansas WorkReady! Certificate
WIA
Workforce Investment Act
• Federal Job Training Funds (Title I)
• Adults
• Dislocated Workers
• Youth
• One-Stop Operation
• Employment Services
Employer
Workforce Center Recourses
• Employer Resources
– Job Postings
• Referral Assistance
– Career Fairs
– Kansas WorkReady! Certification
– Personal Skills Assessments
– Training
– Labor Market Information
KANSASWORKS.com
Key Features:
• Job seekers can post a resume
• Employers can search resumes
• Statewide business teams use resumes for
jobs not open to the public
• Job seekers can be alerted to openings from
specific employers or job types
• Resources are available to job seekers and
employers
WorkReady! Certification
• Developed by ACT, Inc.
• Measures transferable, work-place skills
• Skills can be communicated to business using a work
readiness certificate
Certificate Levels
• Platinum
• 6 or above on all three assessments
• Gold
 5 or above on all three assessments
• Silver
 4 or above on all three assessments
• Bronze
 3 or above on all three assessments
Kansas WORKReady!
•
•
Staff key positions with qualified
employees
Reduce expenses related to:
–
–
–
–
–
–
•
Recruiting
Selection
Hiring
Promotion
Training
Turnover
“Screen In” job candidates
Kansas WORKReady!
Kansas WORKReady! can:
– Provide tangible proof of workplace skills
– Be used as an additional tool for hiring
– Determine a training program which may
result in increased skills and earnings
– Be used as a portable credential
– Standardized skill level requirements-you
know what you are getting!
Workforce Center Partners
• Kansas Department of Labor
• Vocational Rehabilitation
• Veteran Services and
Representatives
• Job Corps
??
Questions
??