Another year for the Work Force Job Studio program has ended with graduates having learned valuable skills that will help them in their future jobs. 

It was graduation day for a number of young adults at Work Force. The day has mixed feelings for Jocelyn Chan, the Job Studio coordinator for Youth for Christ's (YFC) employment training program.

"They are kind of my kids," Chan admitted. She said one of the graduates asked her what it was like to connect with them for a year then have them leave. It's hard, Chan says, but she tries to connect with them afterwards. 

"Last week I had a kid tell me she had an interview lined up," she said about one former graduate of the program. She has also attended a number of high school and college graduations.

The program has an impact on the youth who come because many of them have a chance to learn life and job skills. Job Studio teaches kids to communicate with their boss, manage their anger, budget effectively, and resolve conflicts. They also learn how to write a resume and run practice interviews.

These are skills, Chan says, that they may never have picked up from anyone before. Things like budgeting, which really connected with one kid.

"I had one kid that took it so seriously," Chan laughed. "He tried it on his own at home on the weekend and he came back and said 'whoa, I never knew I had no money.'"

Chan says the graduation allowed kids to invite someone special and gave YFC a chance to honour the kids and show them "what a big deal it was that they stuck through it."

The Job Studio Work Force program runs from October to May, meeting twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday to develop job and life skills to help kids aged 16-20 in the future.