Candice Learns Valuable Life Lessons from NYS Summer Employment Programme

Queen’s School student, Candice Anderson, is giving high marks to the National Youth Services’ Summer Employment Programme.
The upper sixth former, who participated in the programme for three years, says she has learnt some valuable life lessons that will ensure her success in future pursuits.
“Initially, I just went to the NYS as a means to (earn money) and to just get out of the house. However upon working, it has .exposed me to facts (such as) that deportment plays a vital role in one’s success or failure to gain employment,” Candice tells JIS News.
“I have learnt so much and I am so grateful because I am now aware of what I shouldn’t be doing in the office and how to conduct myself,” she adds.
Recalling her first job experience at the Ministry of Agriculture in 2006, where she did filing, Candice says she learnt the value of patience and having a good attitude even when undertaking the most tedious tasks.
“The experience brought to life the saying ‘patience is a virtue’ as the filing, it took some very long hours to complete and I thought it was unnecessary and overbearing.
“I had to do some soul searching and so I adjusted my attitude. I had to be patient and to be more humble and know that I was there to learn and to work. Upon doing that, my colleague and I were well received, and we were asked to work for additional months at the Ministry of Agriculture’s Fisheries Division,” Candice proudly states.
With that lesson learnt, Candice gladly decided to repeat the experience and was placed at the Jamaica Trade and Invest in 2007 and at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica in 2008. Areas of work included data entry, filing, and customer service.
She further states that the expectations of the programme were met. “Yes, my expectations were met, even more than what I expected,” she says.
Candice, who is currently doing courses in law, sociology, history, and communication studies, hopes to pursue a career in law or human resource management.
“I worked in the human resource department at Jamaica Trade and Invest and I found that the work that they did was really fitting of my personality. (Also) I have always wanted to be a lawyer from I was younger and I like to argue things,” says Candice, who she loves to surf the internet and watch the television. She is also a christian and deputy form captain at her school.
Approximately 5,300 secondary and tertiary level students were employed this year under the Summer Employment Programme at a cost of some $58 million. The young people were placed in public and private entities for three weeks during the months of July and August.
Created in 1993 to provide meaningful employment for inner city youth, the programme was expanded in 2001 to meet the needs of tertiary level students, and since that time, it has managed to consistently provide employment for more than 4,000 young Jamaicans every summer.
To date, more than 19,000 young Jamaicans have benefited from the programme.