Think back to your first job. You’ll likely remember a challenging transition during your first few months. As you learned the ropes, it became easier through practice and experience. Now think about what this transition could be like for opportunity youth. Even with work specific training, the transition into the workforce can be challenging for these young people.

Applying new skills in a real work environment is a valuable reinforcement of earlier training and often serves as an important stepping stone to permanent part-time or full-time employment. Learn & Earn experiences also help youth develop their resumes and gain exposure to workplace dynamics. At the same time, they get compensated for their work. These experiences are referred to differently across industries: internships, experiential learning, apprenticeships, etc. Ultimately the end goal is the same: provide opportunity youth with the chance to learn in an actual work environment and receive compensation for the work they perform.

A Learn & Earn program requires thoughtful consideration and commitment from a company. This kind of commitment will create a meaningful and lasting impact on a young person, and perhaps change the trajectory of his or her path in life. Programs such as this can also have a positive impact on your employees, helping them improve leadership skills, connect with their community, and deepen their pride in their employer. And as a company, Learn & Earn programs are a valuable way to build a talent pipeline, improve diversity and inclusion practices, and build a more robust community of employees and customers.

CASE STUDY: EXPEDITORS

Expeditors, a Fortune 500 company, delivers global logistics management solutions for all aspects of supply chain management to customers such as Walmart, General Electric, Cisco Systems and Target. Using a future-focused strategy, in 2008 Expeditors launched Opportunity Knocks, a programmatic commitment to supporting the career development of opportunity youth. By providing professional skills development, part-time to full-time employment and support for continuing education, Expeditors leverages its resources to fit its business needs.

Learn & Earn programs may ultimately look different on the surface, but they all share four fundamental ingredients that operate as key pillars for any successful program.

1. Partner Organization

• Recruits youth participants
• Selects youth participants based on specific criteria (e.g., G.P.A., leadership, potential for change/improvement, resilience, etc.)
• Prepares youth for program entry with a time tested job readiness program, including soft skills training and on-the-job basics
• Staff serves as job and life coaches—supporting youth before, during and after program completion
• Job placement support upon program completion
• Access to wrap-around support services (e.g., legal counsel, health care, GED program, food and shelter, etc.)

2. Company Resources

• Financial Resources: grant to support partner organization, payroll or scholarship funding, etc.
• Human Resources: program manager, intern managers, intern buddies, trainers, onboarding for managers of interns, etc.
• Other Resources: facilities, catering, equipment, training materials, gift cards for clothing, uniforms, recognition events, etc.

3. The "Learn"

• Defined project/experience with clear and measurable output(s)/outcome(s)
• Time bound (hours/week and total internship length)
• Supportive learning environment with an emphasis on coaching for continued development
• Flexible scheduling to accommodate ongoing educational needs
• Ideally, if there is more than one intern, there is an opportunity for the interns to spend structured time together (e.g., speakers, group activity, company event, etc.)
• Set any other parameters to distinguish from similar permanent part-time or full-time positions

4. The "Earn"

• Compensation for the work youth performs
• Cash wages are highly recommended for this population, though compensation could take other forms (e.g., scholarship, college credit, etc.)
• Setting high performance expectations and coaching youth to meet those standards

Using the four program fundamentals as a guide, this next section will help you define the scope of your program. This exercise will help you build a thoughtful program and increase the likelihood that your pilot will be a success. This exercise can be done on your own or with a team of people who will likely contribute to the success of the program. Your partner organization should be a part of this discussion too.

Download the Learn and Earn Programs Youth Goals and Profile Worksheet (PDF 117kb) below.

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Ideally, your partner is an organization you’ve worked with before, serves opportunity youth and has past experience placing youth in company internship programs. If you don’t have a partner identified for your Learn & Earn program, see the sidebar for some helpful tips or see Potential Partner Organizations. Once you have a partner organization selected, work with your partner to identify the youth who will be served through this Learn & Earn opportunity.

You’ve reviewed the four program fundamentals. You have defined how these will translate for your program. You’ve carefully planned your pilot to ensure you have a strong foundation for this program. It’s time to move to program.

Learn & Earn programs involve a lot of moving parts. Ultimately it involves three key phases:

1. Program Preparation: Getting the youth and the managers & buddies ready for the experience.
2. Internship: Providing the Learn & Earn opportunity, with coaching support for the interns and operational support for the managers & buddies.
3. Post-Internship: Collecting feedback from all involved and providing appropriate next steps and support. Divide and conquer with your partner organization to ensure you have clear roles and responsibilities.

As you take your pilot on its first official road test, make sure you collect feedback and track your results along the way. This will set you up for success as you continue to refine and grow your program.

Collect feedback. Collect feedback from youth, local partner staff and employees. Ask about how the interactions went and what each participant got out of it and what could be improved upon next time. This could be in the form of short surveys or informal debrief conversations.

Track your results. Measure your program impact by tracking a few simple metrics. Here are some recommendations for tracking your program reach and impact:

• Youth: Capture the number enrolled and the number who completed the internship. Track the number of part- or full-time employment offers extended and the number of youth who accept these offers and join the company. Have youth take a “self-assessment” (e.g., development focused questionnaire) before and after the program; solicit feedback from managers on the interns’ performance and development.
• Employees: Capture the number of employees involved and their roles. Have employees involved as managers or buddies take a “self-assessment” (e.g., development or satisfaction questionnaire) before and after the program.
• Company: Track diversity information for program participants (part- or full-time hires); track internal awareness of the pilot program.
• Overall Resources: Keep careful records of pilot program spending (amounts and source of funds) and in-kind support (e.g., employee hours, facilities usage, catering)—noting where over or under budget.

While moving a program from a pilot phase to an ongoing operating phase means growth, growth doesn’t always mean numbers. When you’re ready to take the next step with your Learn & Earn program, defining what “growth” means for you is a critical step in making it your own. While a formal program could mean repeating the Learn & Earn experience with new youth or in new places, it also might mean bringing the same small group of youth in for more intensive training or another internship experience within a different part of your business.

During the original program scoping exercise you worked through the four fundamentals of a Learn & Earn program—Partner Organization, Company Resources, The “Learn” and The “Earn.” You defined these fundamentals for your pilot program. Based on the feedback you captured and learnings you experienced during the pilot phase consider:

• What would you change or refine?
• What would you add?
• What would you stop doing?

Stuck?

Here are some examples of options for your program to refine or to grow. Remember, growth doesn’t always mean numbers—it can also mean depth of impact, expanding or tailoring program offerings and so on.

Partner Organization

• Recruit more youth
• Expand/reduce selection criteria
• Grow the scope of partnership with the organization by providing additional complementary services
• Expand to an additional site
• Bring on an additional partner

Company Resources

• Engage employee trainers in developing a job readiness curricula
• Expand the type of training youth receive (e.g., soft skills training) while on-site by involving HR or other coaches
• Collect and package relevant employee resources, planning tools, and training to ensure the program can grow effectively and be sustained

The “Learn”

• Expand internship opportunities (e.g., number of offices/retail locations participating)
• Focus the internship opportunities on the more successful departments
• Extend the length of each internship to last for a full summer or semester
• Provide rotation opportunities within different departments during current internship timeframe
• Deepen impact on a select group of youth by bringing them back for multiple internship roles

The “Earn”

• Shift the compensation model from a stipend provided through a grant to a wage provided via payroll
• Offer the opportunity for interns to transition to a permanent part-time or full-time position after their experience
• Work with your partner organization to integrate incentive-based goal setting into its job readiness training program (that is, tie financial rewards to performance targets); youth can begin to learn pay for performance behaviors earlier

Continue to track metrics from your pilot. Take your program from good to great by adding these suggested metrics or evaluation practices to the mix.

• Youth: Consider using an outside evaluator to conduct pre- and post-assessments, and conduct assessment with a time lag after the program to really capture change; run WorkKeys assessments (ACT designed evaluations) to track skill development at various points in training program.
• Employees: Assign employees involved in the program a “unique ID” in HR system for tracking of career progression (e.g., pay raises, performance reviews) compared to a control group.
• Company: Assign youth a “unique ID” in HR system for tracking of career progression (e.g., pay raises, trainings attended, certifications achieved, part-time offer converted to full-time); track external press mentions and use in company marketing/outreach materials; if large enough in scale, launch customer satisfaction surveys with targeted questions on reputational/community impact.
• Overall Resources: Systematically track start up costs, run rate costs, program off sets (e.g., tax credits, training subsidies), and in-kind support being sure to note sources of funding; resources will likely span business units and budgets so try to keep record of program resources in one location for easy access and accurate reporting.

Tools WorkKeys®

This is a job skills assessment system that helps employers select, hire, train, develop, and retain a high-performance workforce.

U.S. Labor Department, Offices of Apprenticeships

Employer Apprenticeship Guidelines outlines benefits, training, cases studies and FAQs related to apprenticeships.

JobSTART 101

This workbook, JobSTART 101: Smart Tips and Real World-Training, serves as the written companion to the college edition of the online course. Provided at no cost by Business Roundtable and HR Policy Association to help college students better understand employers’ expectations before they enter the workforce.

Ready by 21 Suite of Business and Community Tools, Corporate Voices for Working Families, 2010 - 2011

This series of publications and tools, developed in support of the Ready by 21 National Partnership, is for both business and community leaders to help them better engage each other and build sustainable, successful and strategic partnerships, ensuring that all youth are prepared for college, work and life.

Internship Institute

The Internship Institute is a nonprofit whose mission is to assure the quality, integrity and success of internships. This organization provides employers with resources and thought partnership to develop internship programs.

Career Philly—Internship in a Box

Planning guide that includes tips on implementation, best practices, evaluation forms and special considerations.

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Employers’ Guide to Building a Quality Internship Program

Case Studies Learn and Earn Micro-Business Case Series, Corporate Voices for Working Families, 2009-2011

Corporate Voices is committed to identifying and spotlighting businesses and business practices with the intent of replicating and scaling those practices that make significant contributions to postsecondary education completion through progressive Learn & Earn talent development models. More than 20 companies have been highlighted to date, which include: Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Crest Cadillac, Georgia Power, KPMG LLP, McDonald’s, Pacific Gas & Electric, UPS, Verizon Wireless, and Walmart.

City/Government Program—Milwaukee’s ‘Earn & Learn’ Program

ASI /Lane Community College’s Co-Op Program Case Study

Articles and White Papers Pathways to Prosperity: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century, Harvard Graduate School of Education, February 2011

From an “Ill-Prepared” to a Well-Prepared Workforce The Shared Imperatives for Employers and Community Colleges to Collaborate, Corporate Voices for Working Families, 2010.

“Building Business and Education Partnerships: Creating Pathways to Employment”

Chapter by Corporate Voices for Working Families from Elements of Successful Organizations Achieving Strong Leadership, Smart Management, and an Engaged Workforce, Kronos. Dec 2011.

Across the Great Divide Perspectives of CEOs and College Presidents on America’s Higher Education and Skills Gap