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More colleges and high schools are offering courses that teach you how to get a job and how to navigate the workplace once you're hired. For those who didn't land an internship or job this summer, taking a class could help. Elissa Nadworny of the NPR Ed team reports.
ELISSA NADWORNY, BYLINE: Look people in the eye. Smile. Shake hands. Sit up tall. Speak clearly and confidently. This grading rubric - it's clearly not a typical final exam.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Tell me about yourself, where you're from.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: So where do you see yourself, say, in five years from now?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: What trait would you bring to this position?
NADWORNY: It's finals week at Skidmore College in upstate New York. Students in suits, button-downs and heels are in individual study rooms at the library - one last exam before summer.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: So what would you consider some of your strengths?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: My strengths? I think leadership.
NADWORNY: There's not an actual job on the other end of these interviews - just a pass or fail from a class called Presenting the Brand Called Me. I actually took this course my senior year at Skidmore, and it definitely landed me my first job. And it's working for these students, too.
How was that?
I caught up with Dante Delemos after his final interview.
DANTE DELEMOS: That was pretty good. It was a lot harder than I expected, actually.
NADWORNY: Dante shifts in his gray suit - the one he bought for his high school graduation.
Were you nervous?
DELEMOS: A little bit. Not too seriously. Being able to put myself in headspace where it's just for a class and it's a learning experience rather than, like, you get the job or you don't, that definitely helps it not be such a nerve-wracking experience.
NADWORNY: Dante is originally from the Bronx. And he's the first in his family to go to college.
DELEMOS: I like to use that as kind of an advantage, where I can say, like, I come from a place where people aren't very successful, and that makes me want to drive to be more successful.
NADWORNY: And this class has helped him realize his story has value, so he uses it in cover letters, to shape his resume and during interviews. Plus, it helped him land an awesome summer internship in Manhattan.
The thing about the job skills these students are learning - there's a big divide between folks who just know them - maybe their parents or guidance counselor or others taught them - and with those who don't. And often, that divide widens for students who come from low-income families.
TYTIANNA MCCLENNINGHAM: I didn't know what a resume was at one point in time. And I didn't know how important they were.
NADWORNY: Tytianna McClenningham is learning this stuff as a teenager. She took a class called Tenacity at Ballou Senior High School in Washington D.C. In addition to making resumes, the whole class made professional-sounding email addresses. Say goodbye to bubblegum123@gmail.
MCCLENNINGHAM: You can't email your future boss with some really odd email name. Like, so we're all sitting with a lot of computers. And it was like, everyone's making their email right now.
NADWORNY: After they got those new addresses, they learned email etiquette.
MCCLENNINGHAM: I didn't even think it was important to use, like, a subject in an email, but now I know.
NADWORNY: She says the class went over a whole bunch of other useful tips, but the biggest thing she learned, confidence.
MCCLENNINGHAM: My actual resume looks better than some adults out here.
NADWORNY: Tytianna took this class two years ago when she was a sophomore. Now, as a high school graduate, she's passing on what she learned to other kids who never took the class.
MCCLENNINGHAM: I have friends, and they'll go, can you help me with my resume? And then I'm just like, OK, so I need you to put a list of your skills and a list of things that you've actually done up there.
NADWORNY: Tytianna's up-to-date and professional-looking resume - it helped her land a summer internship. And when she starts college in the fall, she says she's actually looking forward to interviewing for jobs and work study. Elissa Nadworny, NPR News.
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