Launch of an online career development service for high school students

An online career development service, “Link Your Purpose”, to help high school students identify and start achieving their career goals has been launched in Jamaica.

Social enterprise, Link Your Purpose (LYP) recently hosted a free virtual career workshop at Winston Jones High School in Manchester on April 21, 2021, as part of its launch.

Founder and CEO Lanisia Rhoden and her team led the interactive workshop on LYP’s new website, providing students with first-hand insight and experience with key features such as the LYP Career Quiz, a feature of Career Tracker and Online Career Mentors.

“Our goal is to help you put the pieces of your career together and we do it from the website,” said Rhoden before leading a fifth alumnus who took the quiz.

The Career Quiz asks students to enter a number of topics based on their current education and / or interests. It then highlights a range of career options that can be pursued starting with these topics. When one is chosen, the tracker then gives students access to resources and opportunities useful for that particular career path.

LYP’s career development services, both online and through in-person career workshops, aim to simplify and speed up the search process that typically goes into choosing and pursuing a career.

The LYP website fills the career tracker with resources and opportunities for students such as internships, scholarships, jobs, scholarships, career mentors, and a list of schools and / or institutions that offer courses or diplomas beneficial to the student’s desired career path.

Rhoden explained that the Link Your Purpose model, career quiz algorithm, and career coaching methods have all been informed by years of research and data collection from institutions across the island.

She said LYP has tested other means, including “psychometric tests” to determine careers based on personalities and abilities.

However, she said, “We realized that even when students take psychometric tests, they still don’t know which topics to choose that lead to their careers. So we have developed our own algorithm to help with this.

She added that although many schools offer career counseling in the form of fairs, this is usually only for final year students and in most schools it only takes place once a year.

“Many students have never even spoken to someone in the professional field they are interested in,” she said. But, she also pointed out that this is why online career mentors and organizing career mentoring sessions are key features of the website.

The LYP team guided students at Winston Jones High through case studies for careers and how one might pursue them successfully, and students who actively participated in the workshop won awards such as a one-year platform subscription and free mentoring sessions to speak with a career mentor of their choice.

Rhoden indicated that LYP intends to host more complementary career workshops in the near future for low-income schools and help start the conversation about planning for future careers as early as ninth grade, where the Most students choose their CSEC / CXC subjects.

Senior High School Guidance Counselor Winston Jones, who was also in attendance, expressed immense gratitude for the free session, stating: “If we had had to pay for [the career workshop], We could not. So I want to thank you and your team for a great job today.

Students also left with information on soft soft skills to work on, which is useful not only for pursuing a career, but also for furthering their education. Future LYP workshops will adopt a similar program of events, with special speakers and mentors to help guide students.

The website, www.linkyourpurpose.com is operational and the team hopes to attract at least 10,000 students.

The recent upgrade and launch of the Link Your Purpose platform was made possible through Expo 2020 Dubai’s Expo Live Global Innovators Grants Program.