I have read an article in the Economist on youth employment lately and agreed with it. (Issue: 23-29 January 2016; Special Report; The Young; Article Title: Jobs – The walled world of work).
It says:
‘“The first ten years (of youth employment ) are essential. They shape careers in the long term,” says Stefano Scarpetta of the OECD, a think-tank for mostly rich countries. This is when people develop the soft skills that they do not pick up at school, such as conscientiousness, punctuality and teamwork.’

Last but not least, one interesting exercise suggested by the Prince’s Trust trainer drives home a key point in mentoring. He asked the mentor volunteers to fill in an application form with our non-dominant hands in 2 minutes imagining we were at the counter of a job center with a long line of other applicants waiting impatiently behind us. On the surface, other people in the queue might not have realized that we were at a disadvantage (by writing with our non-dominant hands). By the same token, we should not judge others too quickly without understanding where they are coming from and the reasons behind their actions and behaviors. It was a good lesson and reminder.

The Prince’s Trust trainer mentioned that for each young person in the program, there are on average 5-6 volunteers assigned to him/her throughout the entire period that the young person is with the charity. There are approximately 6,000 volunteers working for the charity at the moment. This life-changing transformation is quite “labor-intensive” and requires a lot of hard work for all participants on both sides of the table. The results are amazing and unbelievable. The success rate is 75% with the definition of success being work, education or volunteer work. It is worth every effort.

Another suggestion to mentors is to celebrate successes, big and small, with mentees along the way before they reach their final goals. It is a great way to encourage them as the path to the final goal/destination can be long and difficult at times.

The volunteer trainer made an excellent suggestion that mentors should focus on positive outcome in all situations without forgetting to provide objective feedback.
For example, if a job application is not successful, focus on the positive aspects of the experience as a lesson learnt. Results are not always binary. As disappointing the outcome may look like, it is important to focus on the “silver linings” and march on with head held high.

This week was quite a busy week for me as I attended the Prince’s Trust mentoring training for 2 days.
I would like to share some quick takeaway points in mentoring young people.
First, let the young person (mentee) talk by asking open questions.
As people more mature in age, we tend to form opinions in our minds based on our longer life experience.
However, it can be counter-productive in mentoring others if we form our own opinions (and sometimes solutions) too early.
In addition, as suggested by some people, it is better to teach someone to fish than just providing them with the fish.

A few days ago I wrote about the French course that I was not able to sign up for due to the January effect of over-subscription. I am here to update my readers as some of you are curious how that all ends.
Well, I am proud (as a teacher’s pet) that my name dropping of reminding the instructor who I am finally has brought a favorable outcome. The registration office called me tonight and told me that the instructor had made an exception to accept me. Now I will have to keep up with the homework (some if not all) to earn my place in the class.

It is where…
the sun shines;
the moon glows;
the air flows;
the rain drifts;
the snow floats;
the flowers grow;
the birds sing;
the dogs bark;
the people smile;
the children dance;
love thrives;
God speaks and
mountains move.

Besides the January gym-going, I did not realize that taking language course is another popular January “activity”. Well, I learned it the hard way.
It took me more than one week to get through the registration telephone line (and emailing them) trying to re-enrol my French course and the lady at the administration office politely told me that the course was FULL. She will need to speak to the teacher to see if she can accept more students. I told her repeatedly to mention my name to the teacher hoping that it would make a difference. Still awaiting an answer as of today.

On the back of my previous blog on “Giving the Best Shot”, another friend of a “certain age” echoed with it.
He said, “I think the best is yet to come and I am definitely not calling this the peak of my life.”
Indeed, at whatever age we are, we should explore and find new ways to contribute to the society, interact with and bless others as well as enjoy life.
There are new people to meet, new horizons to reach, new grounds to break and new jokes to crack :>