Will Work for Free!

Many teen’s first work experiences are often in fast food restaurants and retail stores, and they are often able to maintain these positions throughout their high school and college years. Not only do young workers learn important work skills, but they also receive the self esteem building effects that earning your own money provides.


With the current state of our economy and the high unemployment rates that many seasoned workers are experiencing, many young people are losing the job opportunities that have traditionally been held by teens to older and more experienced unemployed workers willing to take lower paying jobs just to keep a roof over their heads. With this type of competition in the workplace, how are young people supposed to develop the skills necessary to become work ready? Well, the answer often lies in other work opportunities: Internships and Service Learning experiences.

Service learning projects and internships are two of the most important experiences that young people can undertake to move them toward work readiness. Employers regard past work experience as vitally important in predicting the workplace success of new employees. In order to get that experience, young people need employment opportunities, and service learning projects and internships provide just that.

Where can teens find these opportunities?

Many non-profit, government and for profit companies often offer unpaid work experiences that are great learning opportunities for community youth. Many community organizations are always in need of volunteers to carry out community service delivery as well as outreach and recruitment assistance. Municipal offices often welcome resident support with their community events and public education needs and often will allow reliable young people to assist in the office or with municipal sponsored special events. As well, many local communities have public access television studios that young people can not only volunteer to work in, but may also be able to learn production and editing skills. The civic leadership opportunities that young people can participate in and parlay into work skills cannot be overlooked. Many municipalities and community organizations would not only welcome, but rely on youth developed leadership councils to assist them in creating programming for their teen population.

Internship opportunities can often move young people to the front of the list of the hiring process when their required education is completed. Many employers consider internship experience of extreme importance in making hiring decisions. The skills learned while participating in an internship placement can often only be acquired while in a work experience and are a great marriage between young people’s preferences and what they are learning in school. This “test-driving” of a job provides valuable insight into an industry; allowing a young person to determine if the field is right for him/her. As well, internships allow employers to teach potential employees exactly what they want them to know – making them the perfect employee when they are ready to hire!

The best way to learn about internship opportunities is to simply ASK! Young people interested in working for a specific company should submit a Letter of Inquiry to the Human Resource department explaining why they are interested in working at the company and how this experience will benefit their future plans.

Job Boards such as Groovejob.com, snagajob.com and theinternqueen.com are great resources to research internship opportunities and company’s requirements. As well, local colleges and universities often post internship opportunities that can be viewed by anyone interested.

HIRE YOURSELF! Hire Learning's Classes are Kicking Off Now!

If you are a teen or know a teen interested in learning Technical Skills such as Graphic Design, Web Design, Video Production, Online Magazine Development or DJing, then you need to contact us because classes are beginning soon! We are looking for teens ages 14-24 who want to flex their creative muscle! Our classes are 6 - 8 weeks and taught by professionals in the field. As well, graduates will have the opportunity to get HIRED on projects that require these skills!

Web and Graphic Design graduates will have the opportunity to work on real, paid projects such as business websites, literature creation, T-Shirt designing and writing for our online magazine, Insphire Magazine! As well, our youth forums, Real Talk, will be video taped for podcasts on our website.  We will also be creating a youth run talk show that will be hosted, taped and edited by Hire Learning participants! Music will be provided by our DJ class!

As if that was not great enough, we will be offering an Entreprenuership Class - Young Executives. These students will develop a business idea, write the business plan and LAUNCH THE BUSINESS! They will be totally responsible for the business and, of course, reap the financial benefits of their efforts!

If you are interested in getting real world employment experience, develop a portfolio of work, and learn some kick-butt tech skills, run don't walk to the phone or computer and contact Hire Learning to be the first to sign up!
Meet you at the Top!

Teens at the Top!

Hire Learning Career Development Academy is sponsoring a teen event "Teens at the Top! Youth Summit on November 20th, 2010 at Prairie State University from 3pm-7pm. This summit will provide information to young people on goal planning, youth violence prevention and career options and work opportunities. As well, local organizations serving the South Suburban Cook County area will be on hand to let young people know what services are available to them and educational institutions will be providing information on higher education opportunities. There will also be lot's of entertainment and guest appearances! Additionally, we are interested in what young people have to say so there will be ample opportunity for our participants to engage us adults and tell us what we can do to help them.

This event is sure to be a great time and an opportunity to support our youth who are interested in positive activities. If you are a young person 14-24, we want to see you there! If you are an adult, come out to support our teens. If you are a youth organization or service provider, contact us to participate!

Rich Township Superintendent Brings Education into the 21st Century!

For those of us who have dedicated our work to assuring that kids get educated, we can begin to breathe a sigh of relief that the issue of education is, for the first time in decades, being taken seriously. With big names such as Oprah, Bill Gates, John Legend, Oscar® winner Davis Guggenheim and now Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg giving loud and influential voices to this issue, we down in the daily trenches are finally feeling that the troops have arrived to help us fight this war.

Their ability to get national attention to an issue that local leaders, educators and parents have long been screaming about is, unfortunately, what we needed to move the country to action. Too bad our children’s future wasn’t enough. At any rate, whatever the impetus, the spotlight is finally being shined on those who are doing a rotten job and for those movers and shakers who are making a difference.

Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, has become a nationally recognized face in the war against bad education. More recently, Michelle Rhee, the mover and shaker who is shaking up the entire education in our Nation’s Capital has been making headlines for her efforts toward excellence in education. Then there is our own Chicago son, Tim King, CEO of all boys charter school Urban Prep, who can tout 100% college acceptance for every graduating senior in the class of 2010. Job well done!

Well, there are many unsung heroes who fight the good fight everyday and get little or no recognition. For Rich Township District 227’s new Superintendent, Dr. Donna Simpson Leak, we are going to make sure that doesn’t happen. Dr. Leak has vowed that all students in her district will receive an excellent education and educational experience and she has put a plan of action in place that is sure to deliver the results that she expects. Stating in a recent N’Digo article that her life’s purpose is “transforming the lives of as many children as possible,” we, who have been invited to be involved in the process, tend to believe her.

From increasing the number of AP classes available to students, to encouraging parents to get Facebook pages to understand what is important to their children, to inviting the entire community – literally – to be involved in the educational process, Dr. Leak is bringing the art of educating young people into the 21^st Century! At Hire Learning, our philosophy has always contended that all community stakeholders must take ownership of educating our youth and actively participate in positive youth development and community connectedness. So to our own South Suburban trailblazer, we say “Way to take us Hire!”

Ready to Go Hire!

Welcome to the Hire Learning Career Development Academy Blog! We are a youth workforce development and exploration organization and we are about to embark on a journey of learning and fun as we explore what we can, what we want to be and how to become it!!  

In this space, we encourage all of our readers to tell us what’s on your minds. Tell us your thoughts on what youth need today to be successful and how we at Hire Learning and our community partners can provide those things. We want this space to be a place where we can all learn, share and grow as we create the communities that will support our young people to reach their highest goals. We want to make this a place where we can all share information, news, and accomplishments from and about young people, no matter where they are!

We want you to bring us your stories, tell us what’s happening in your lives and let us know what you would like to see happen I your school, community and town. Here you will be able to get information on what we’re doing at Hire Learning and what’s going on around us. And we want to know what you’re doing to reach your goals.

Let’s make everyday a purposeful day as we all move toward the lives that we imagine for ourselves!