KINGSTON, Jamaica – Students participating in the Global Services Sector (GSS) High School Immersion Bootcamp Training Programme will have an opportunity to learn digital skills as part of the Enhanced Job Readiness Curriculum.

The curriculum aims to prepare students for the working world through four weeks of online classes and case studies. It will also focus on cognitive and soft skills for workplace and social behaviour.

Programme Director, Global Services Sector Project, Marjorie Straw, said that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Skills Council and its partners recognised that there would be a need for more digital skills, and as such a revision of the existing curriculum was done “to ensure that it was more relevant to the industry needs”.

“The industry knows what it needs. Every day it deals with global operators and, as such, is trying to ensure that our training curricula is supporting the persons in training and supporting the skill needs that the industry requires,” said Straw.

She pointed out that the High School Immersion Bootcamp will allow and enable students between the ages of 16 and 20 years to learn about the curriculum and be equipped or “in other words, upskilled”.

Once the Enhanced Job-Readiness Curriculum is completed, students will then participate in the boot camp phase of the programme.

“We are going to, as a project, offer a Career Fair at the end of the programme in September to give those who, for whatever reason, may not be returning to school an opportunity to interview for positions in the industry,” Straw added.

Individuals interested in being a part of the programme are invited to register online at www.careersunlocked.org.

Straw further indicated that there are a lot of benefits to be derived from participating in the training programme, which she said is “an excellent opportunity at no cost”.

“You’re going to get more than one certificate from HEART/NSTA Trust and from the industry coaches that we will have. We have gamification. You’re going to have access to our career fairs to interview directly with the industry for job opportunities, and you’re going to be learning how to understand and navigate the global services sector, which comprises the business process outsourcing, knowledge process outsourcing and information technology outsourcing firms,” she outlined.

The free training programme, being implemented through a partnership between the GSS Project and One-on-One Educational Services, will run for two months under the theme, ‘YES (Youth Empowered Skills) to Careers Unlocked’.

It is also endorsed by the Ministry of Education and Youth.