Your Plan • Your Portfolio • Your Life
What Is the Smart Transitions Life-Work Portfolio Class?
The Smart Transitions Life-Work Portfolio Course is a five 1.5- to 2-hour session, in-person, training course designed to improve outcomes for youth struggling with the transition to adult life. It focuses on the five secrets to a successful adult life:
- a. developing self-awareness,
- b. identifying a mission and vision,
- c. formulating a plan,
- d. fostering grit and resilience, and
- e. building a support network.
This life skills training for youth equips participants with the tools, self-knowledge, and confidence needed for long-term success.”
In the process of completing the course, youth will develop a life-work transition plan, an attractive and valuable personal/work brand, a personal presentation portfolio with a resume, references, a professional headshot, and a collection of evidence in support of communicating that personal/work brand.
Who Is It For?
The Smart Transitions Life-Work Portfolio Course is designed for upper high school students who are or should be beginning to get serious about post-high school plans. It is also appropriate for post-high school youth looking to refine the success skills of adult life-work. The program also serves as early career development for youth, helping them map pathways toward meaningful work and independence.
How Does It Work?
The Smart Transitions Life-Work Portfolio Course is designed to help youth develop a personal “brand” which defines and clarifies how they want to be seen by the world and what kind of image they want to present. They also develop a set of practical tools for success in the adult world, including life-work plans, professional resumes, personal presentation portfolios, and refined personal presentation skills (their ability to present themselves professionally).
- The Life-Work Plan is a personal plan for transitioning into the adult world of work and independence. It is based on what a young person wants to do with his or her life.
- The Personal Presentation Portfolio is a tool for documenting and sharing what it is that makes a youth special and unique. It will include a professional portrait, a resume, letters of recommendation, honors, awards, and certificates, and evidence of talents, gifts and abilities.
- A Personal Brand is a youth’s conscious choice of how he or she wants to be perceived by employers and peers. Youth also practice interviewing skills and learn the secrets of what they need to know to interview for and get the jobs they want.
As part of this portfolio development class, students learn to package their experiences and strengths into a professional, confidence-building presentation.
What Teens Usually Want to Know: How Is This Going to Help Me?
In order to get somewhere, you need four things:
- A better sense of who you are
- a vision of where you are going and a mission or purpose;
- a plan for getting there;
- the motivation and determination to continue in the face of challenges and setbacks;
- and a support network.
Most people (and not just teens but sometimes adults as well) don’t really know or lose touch with who they are or what they want out of life. Even if they think they know what they want, it often does not fit who they really are.
And if you don’t know what you want or what you want doesn’t fit you, how are you going to get someplace that brings you real success, happiness, and independence?
Where most career planning begins with the question, what kind of job do you think you want, we think that is backwards. The core of this course begins with helping you learn about yourself:
- Your Interests (what attracts your attention and curiosity),
- Your Passions (what do you love to do),
- Your Talents (what do you naturally do well),
- Your Skills (what have you learned to do well),
- Your Values (what matters most to you—what you believe in),
When you take that information and align it with your personality and your life experiences, you have a unique and potentially attractive brand—one that people will want to hire and help. Based on your brand and your aspirations, we help you create a Life-Work Plan that has a good chance of helping you find the success, happiness, and independence you want.
Next, based on the personal brand you are promoting, we build a portfolio of samples and evidence of your interests, passions, talents, skills, and values. You will use this to help present yourself to others and to help you continually refine your Life-Work Plan. And did we mention that the course is designed to be fun, honest, real, and “not boring?” I mean after all, if it’s all about you, how could that be boring?
An added benefit of completing this class is our Connections Fund. Sometimes, youth in transition need financial or material support to help them stabilize and pursue education or vocational training. As a Smart Transitions Life-Work Portfolio Course graduate, teens can apply for grants for short-term aid for housing and education.
These lessons form the foundation of career development for youth, emphasizing self-awareness, goal-setting, and real-world readiness.
How Effective Is the Program?
- 92% of youth who complete our program graduate on time compared to 72% of peers with no intervention.
- 68% pursue post-secondary education or skills training compared to 6% of at-risk youth with no intervention.
- 78% report improved ability to find and maintain employment compared to 16% of at-risk youth with no intervention.
- Graduates show measurable increases in optimism and transition to their own future.
Hosting a Class/Group
We provide this program to schools, human services agencies, departments of juvenile justice, Redevelopment and housing authorities, churches, and non-profit agencies serving at-risk populations (Available within the Hampton Roads/Southeastern Virginia Service Area). This is usually a 10-hour program spread out over 5 sessions (but we can customize it to better match the needs of your population). The program is portable, and we can bring it to you. This program works best with small groups of 10-20 youth at a time. If you would like to host a course at your site, contact us by clicking on the contact button below.
