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Tag: employability skills

  • Only Two Weeks Left to Submit to Rubin’s “Great Intern” Contest

    Only Two Weeks Left to Submit to Rubin’s “Great Intern” Contest

    With two weeks remaining in the first-ever America’s Next Great Intern contest, the Rubin team continues to review stellar submissions from CTE students around the country.

    Now through March 3, 2023, students are encouraged to showcase their employability skills in the fun, free competition.

    Educators can register their class or school here. A panel of judges (Rubin team members, industry professionals and staff from the Association for Career and Technical Education) will assess the students across five areas.

    1. Greeting: Video recording of the student engaging in a professional handshake
    2. Phone Skills: Video recording of the student leaving a mock voicemail and answering the phone at a place of business
    3. Team Communication: Email in which the student updates a teacher or employer on the status of classwork or a project at an internship/job
    4. Resiliency & Determination: Written example of a time in which the student demonstrated resiliency in the face of a challenge on a class/club project, volunteer opportunity or task at an internship
    5. Research & Critical Thinking: Questions the student prepares to better explore a company where the student would like to intern

    The instructions are drawn from Rubin’s Emerge curriculum, a broad library of online exercises for employability skills like email/phone etiquette, job interview prep, LinkedIn communication and more. Rubin provides Emerge to CTE programs nationwide.

    Questions! Email support@rubineducation.com

    The clock is ticking — submit today!

    Clock is ticking!

  • Rubin Launches America’s Next Great Intern Contest

    Rubin Launches America’s Next Great Intern Contest

    Virginia Beach, VA (January 10, 2023) – The nation will soon discover its “Next Great Intern” through a free contest sponsored by Rubin, the leader in online instruction for employability and work readiness skills.

    The first-ever America’s Next Great Intern contest highlights students who participate in career and technical education (CTE) or project-based (hands-on) classes and programs. All middle school, high school and post-secondary CTE students are eligible to participate.

    Demand for intern and job applicants with “soft skills” remains a top priority across all industry sectors. According to a 2022 survey of employers by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), 76% of respondents want to hire young people who can work on a team, 73% want people with strong written communication skills and 58% seek new hires with strong speaking skills.

    The submission period for the America’s Next Great Intern contest runs the month of February 2023, which is National CTE Month. Educators can register their class or school here. A panel of judges (Rubin team members, industry professionals and staff from the Association for Career and Technical Education) will assess the students across five areas.

    1. Greeting: Video recording of the student engaging in a professional handshake
    2. Phone Skills: Video recording of the student leaving a mock voicemail and answering the phone at a place of business
    3. Team Communication: Email in which the student updates a teacher or employer on the status of classwork or a project at an internship/job
    4. Resiliency & Determination: Written example of a time in which the student demonstrated resiliency in the face of a challenge on a class/club project, volunteer opportunity or task at an internship
    5. Research & Critical Thinking: Questions the student prepares to better explore a company where the student would like to intern

    The instructions are drawn from Rubin’s Emerge curriculum, a broad library of online exercises for employability skills like email/phone etiquette, job interview prep, LinkedIn communication and more. Rubin provides Emerge to CTE programs nationwide.

    Every student who participates in the contest will receive a certificate and e-portfolio of their submitted work.

    “Employers often lament that students today don’t possess the ‘soft skills’ necessary to engage in an office setting or on the job site,” said Danny Rubin, founder of Rubin. “We hope the contest shows that, yes, there are professional-grade young people coast to coast who will add value to any business or organization.”

    For more information or to set up an interview, please contact Janelle Burchfield, media relations with the Rubin team, at  hello@jbdigital.media.

    About Rubin

    Rubin is the leader in online instruction for employability and work readiness skills. The company provides Emerge, a digital curriculum that teaches effective writing and speaking skills, to thousands of students in middle school, high school and higher education. Rubin also has a real-time notification tool for soft skills called Propel.

    Founded in 2017 by Danny Rubin, a former CBS television news reporter and consultant to NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Rubin teaches students nationwide critical lessons for email/phone etiquette, networking, team communication, leadership communication and more. Our motto: “Write well, open doors!”

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    Calling all stellar future interns!

  • Rubin Adds New Ethics Unit to Emerge Curriculum

    Rubin Adds New Ethics Unit to Emerge Curriculum

    In fall 2022, the Rubin team developed a new series focused on ethical discussions as they relate to employability skills.

    As the leader in online resources for employability and work readiness, we built an 11-part series that challenges students to think, “What would I do?” across several real-world scenarios.

    Alexis Kruemcke, an implementation specialist at Rubin and former classroom teacher, led the project.

    All eleven ethical scenarios are now inside our Emerge curriculum, a robust library of activities, videos, readings and assessments for employability skills.

    The ethical scenarios align with existing units in Emerge and are as follows:

    • Email etiquette
    • Phone and video etiquette
    • Networking
    • “Storytelling” cover letters
    • Internships
    • Job interviews
    • Resumes
    • Student leadership
    • Report writing
    • Writing to clients
    • LinkedIn outreach

    See a sample ethical discussion below. Want to view all 11 scenarios and our full Emerge library of 200+ instructional items?

    Request a 30-day free trial today, and our team will be in touch to set up the trial!

    Ethical discussion for resumes: What would you do?

     

    Scenario:

    Over the summer, you were an intern at an environmental non-profit. One of the main projects was a river clean-up outside of the city. Your supervisor was the project manager, but he put you in charge of most aspects of the project.

    Your tasks included:

    • Create a schedule for the clean-up process
    • Assign roles for the project
    • Coordinate with city officials
    • Obtain and manage supplies

    On your resume, you decide to list yourself as the project manager even though the title is technically your supervisor’s role. However, you did most of the work and feel “project manager” title is more appropriate than “intern.”

    Discuss the scenario with your classmates and answer the following question:

    Is it fair and truthful to say you were the project manager because your supervisor put you in charge of the project? Why or why not?

    What would you do?

  • Kansas CTE Students in Grades 6-12 Explore Emerge to Learn Life Skills

    Kansas CTE Students in Grades 6-12 Explore Emerge to Learn Life Skills

    At Deerfield USD 216 in southwest Kansas, students in grades 6-12 sit at tables to practice cursive signatures and how to address an envelope — and then pop up to shake hands with classmates with steady eye contact and firm grasps.

    What’s going on?

    Each week, CTE Coordinator Jennifer Wieberg dives into the Rubin Emerge curriculum, an online library of practical lessons for employability, and then delivers each lesson to her students in middle and high school.

    Emerge is designed as a comprehensive resource to help students become stronger writers and speakers as they pursue college and career opportunities.

    “Last year, I was up late many nights scouring Pinterest for career resources and even paying for curricula out of my own pocket,” said Wieberg. “Emerge has everything I need in one place with activities, lesson plans and discussion questions for critical life and career skills. I love it.”

    Check out scenes from Wieberg’s classroom!

    Hands shakes, mailing letters and so much more