Employment News

The Employment Unit is proud to introduce two new strategies to assist students in their preparation for the world of work. These include new vests for students to wear to work and a standardized employment assessment system to measure students’ readiness for work.

Last November, the Employment Unit implemented a new approach to recognize our students who are working indoors by having them wear blue vests. Students were asked to give input as to the style and color of the vests and if they would wear them. The students voted on the vests and most were supportive of the concept.

By wearing the vest, students look more professional to represent SVA. This is good preparation for students who will eventually work off campus on jobs which require the wearing of vests or other uniforms.

All students working indoors wear blue vests to identify they are on the clock. These students work in a variety of settings such as custodial, workroom assembly, maintenance, library and commissary. This helps staff and other students remember not to interrupt those students who are at work. Students wearing the vests are reminded to continue working and to take care of personal business after their work shift has ended.

The above follows our intent to help with three valuable Employment SkillSets: 1. Filter out distractions and stay focused on tasks; 2. Continue working until the job is complete; 3. Demonstrate effective work communication skills.

We appreciate the support from the students and staff to implement the new vests for students working on campus. Visitors have commented on how professional the student workers look wearing the blue vests with the SVA logo.

To enhance the professionalism of services provided to SVA students, the Employment Unit staff has received training to use the CASAS employment readiness assessment system. CASAS is an acronym for Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment Systems. This is a set of standardized assessments that is used nationwide in over 30 states in adult education and workforce skills training.

Within the CASAS system, there are three different types of assessments that SVA is using. These are: Employability Competency System (ECS), Workforce Learning System (WLS) and Workforce Skills Certification System (WSCS).

In the ECS, students are evaluated based on a work maturity checklist. They are evaluated in areas of: career awareness, resume preparation, cover letter preparation, filling out applications, interviewing, work maturity on the job skills and job experience/training.

With the WLS, students are given a skills appraisal and then tested in vocational reading and math levels to determine what types of jobs they are qualified to do. As students work to increase these levels, they can be given additional testing to measure their progress.

The WSCS is a capstone program that assesses students’ readiness to join the workforce in a variety of industries. In addition to their academic levels, students are assessed in areas of critical thinking, problem-solving and occupation-specific skills. This provides valuable information to inform potential employers about a student’s skill proficiency.

These assessments provide objective and measurable norms for giving students feedback about their readiness for competitive employment outside of SVA. This feedback is very valuable in the career counseling process to help students make decisions about training and their choice of occupation.

We hope this information is helpful for you to better understand the services which are being provided to assist your student in their preparation to enter the world of work.