Summer 2018. Two hundred students wait in excited anticipation for final results. But this time, it’s not exam results — it’s the announcement of the winners in the JA Europe Company of the Year Competition. After one year of hard work, in addition to their studies, they’ve worked on product development, business plans, financial planning and marketing—beating 300,000 competitors across 39 countries to get here. These young people represented the very best in new business innovation. And the results are in…
Teach kids to succeed: by being work ready, not just grad ready
JA Europe is a part of JA Worldwide, an organization dedicated to teaching young people work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy. The JA Company Program has been challenging students around the world since 1919 — to create, start up and run their own businesses. As well as the more obvious business skills, students are encouraged to develop their “soft skills” — things like teamwork, leadership and innovation — when designing and implementing their products or services. Our mission to help kids get ready for work has created a strong partnership with JA for more than a decade. And this year in Belgrade, ManpowerGroup presented the second annual Ready for Work Award.
“You're interacting with people in your everyday life. So you have to learn how to talk to them, how to persuade them, and how to work as a team.” — Tefkros Chimonas, Team GrowGreen
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Soft Skills / sawft skilz /
Human strengths – including communication, collaboration, relationship-building, creativity, empathy and a desire to learn.
“Collaborating with leading companies such as ManpowerGroup enables us to develop entrepreneurship and employability programmes, helping students to understand the relevance of what they are studying in school. Thanks to ManpowerGroup's Ready for Work Award, students are encouraged to nurture their learnability beyond the classroom, by developing soft skills which are key to ensuring successful future careers.” — Caroline Jenner, CEO for JA Europe
Ready for Work — you bet!
It was Art of Joy (Kunsted å glede) of Norway that truly demonstrated what it means to be ready for work. They captured the spirit of learnability—the ability to face fresh challenges, grow skills and adapt to new circumstances—when developing their product. Art of Joy’s innovative business model to sell 100 percent organic, eco-friendly t-shirts designed by children battling cancer was built on self-reflection, action-based learning and long-term skills development.
Ready for Work Award Criteria
- 25%for Process of Skill Improvement
- 50%for Skills Displayed During Project
- 25%for Self-Reflection and Demonstrating Learnability
“Congratulations to the deserving winner of this year’s award - Team Kunsten å glede from Norway. These future leaders and young entrepreneurs demonstrated agility, collaboration, perseverance and creativity – skills that will serve them well in this fast-changing world of work.” — Stefano Scabbio, President of Northern Europe, Mediterranean & Eastern Europe for ManpowerGroup
Rewards beyond awards
Our work with JA in 31 locations across Europe and right across the U.S. isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s in our core values and makes business sense. These young people will soon be our skilled workers; our healthcare professionals, our engineers and more. That’s why we believe sustainable employment starts with young people being work ready. Helping them build the skills they’ll need to succeed and gain practical experience in the workplace doesn’t just work for them – it works for employers too.
