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Takoma Park to Shuttle Youth to Job Fair; Provide Interview Training

Mock interviews to be held Mar. 24.

Takoma Park’s Recreation Department will transport city teenagers and young adults to a job fair in downtown Silver Spring on March 26, said a member of the Recreation Committee who is helping organize the trip.

In addition to the trip to the job fair, mock interviews are scheduled to be held on March 24 at the Recreation Center to help participants prepare for a real interview at the job fair, said Kay Daniel-Cohen, the Recreation Committee member who is helping organize the trip.

Originally, the Recreation Department was going to organize a job fair for Takoma Park’s youth, but since Montgomery County has organized a job fair for county youth, the decision was made to take Takoma Park youth to that job fair, rather than spending funds on creating one, said Daniel-Cohen.

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The fifth annual “Let’s Get It Started” job fair for youth ages 16 to 21 is sponsored by the County’s Workforce Investment Board’s Youth Council and will be held at the Silver Spring Civic Building at Veterans Plaza, One Veterans Place, Silver Spring on March 26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The job fair’s goal is to provide businesses or organizations “an opportunity to conduct on-site interviews and offer information about jobs and career tracks,” said the Let’s Get It Started team. The job fair “is an excellent opportunity to meet face to face with the area’s youth who are looking for jobs and are ready to work,” the group said.

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The game plan for the Takoma Park trip “is to take some teens from the community center” to the job fair, Daniel-Cohen said. “So they (the youths) are not sent cold into the job fair, we’re (the Recreation Department) going to have a mock interview session on March 24 with the youth to prepare them for interviewing for a job,” she said, adding that a practice job application is being developed.

In addition, while the Let’s Get It Started job fair is focused on youths ages16 to 21, Takoma Park teens younger than 16 who want to participate will still be taken to the job fair so they can gain some experience in job seeking. “We (the Recreation Department) decided it would be just as well to take them (younger teens) so they get a sense and feel for a job fair,” Daniel-Cohen said. And all the youths can participate in the mock interview sessions. “We’re going to give them the best we can with mock interviews,” she added.

Youths are advised to attend the job fair prepared to meet with and talk to employers. That includes taking some items with them. Those items are:

  • A pen (blue or black ink only).
  • Several copies of their resume (if they have one).
  • A personal fact sheet if they do not have a resume.
  • Their Social Security Number, which is needed for many job applications.

Takoma Park youths interested in participating can contact Faye Wright, the Teen Program coordinator, at 301-891-7283, or fayew@takomagov.org.

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