R1. Introduction to Center Life
Centers must provide new students with an introduction to center life that includes:
a. Activities designed to make them feel welcome and safe upon arrival
b. Experiences and information leading students to understand the opportunities and benefits available and the expectations for participants including:
1. Job Corps’ mission
2. The Career Development Services System (CDSS)
3. The center’s basic schedule of training and activities
4. The Career Success Standards
5. Assessment testing
6. Evaluation of Student Progress (ESP)
7. Student rights and responsibilities:
(a) Standards of conduct
(b) Equal opportunity, civil, legal, and religious rights
(c) Sexual harassment and anti-bullying policies
8. Student government and leadership programs
9. Student benefits:
(a) Allowances and allotments
(b) Accountability, leave, and absence policies
(c) Support services (e.g., food services, mail, telephone, and voting rights)
10. Center and community life:
(a) Dormitory life
(b) Hands-on activities to practice the Career Success Standards
(c) Recreation/leisure time activities
(d) Information about the local community
11. Health and Wellness services, including:
(a) Trainee Employee Assistance Program
(b) Disability program (e.g., reasonable accommodation)
12. Safety pertaining to elimination or prevention of hazards that may result in injury, illness, or death. Topics must include at a minimum:
(a) Overview of the Job Corps Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) program with emphasis on student roles and responsibilities, including but not limited to:
(1) Occupational Safety and Health committee
(2) Fire safety and prevention
(3) Emergency action plan (including extreme/severe weather, evacuations, active shooter incidents, and terrorist threats)
(4) Hazard communication, including Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and labeling
(5) Applicable Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards (varies by work or training environment)
(6) Safe work practices, including use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
(7) Reporting unsafe or unhealthful living and training conditions
(8) Recreational safety, including water safety
(b) Reporting accidents, injuries, and illnesses (with emphasis on timely reporting); OSHA 300 Log; and OSHA 300A
(c) Work-based learning site safety, including reporting unsafe and unhealthy conditions, and accident and injury reporting requirements
(d) Preventing the spread of flu and other illnesses, and personal hygiene
13. Security pertaining to center culture, personal comfort, and well-being. Topics must include at a minimum:
(a) Center security procedures
(b) Unauthorized goods and confiscation procedures
(c) Zero Tolerance policy
(d) Smoking policies on and off center
(e) Off-limit areas on and off center
(f) Protection of personal property and tort claims
(g) Student vehicle policy
(h) Security operations
(i) Sign-in and sign-out procedures (passes and leave) and entry and exit procedures
(j) Inventory of personal belongings
(k) Identification cards
(l) Phone calls
(m) Mail procedures
(n) Visiting procedures
(o) Job Corps National, toll-free Safety Hotline
c. An introduction to diversity to acquaint new students with the diversity represented on the center and in the community, and to familiarize them with the Multicultural Awareness Career Success Standard
d. A variety of opportunities for new students to meet and interact with:
1. Center Managers
2. Career Development/Transition Managers and/or Specialists
3. Counselors
4. Disability Coordinator (DC)
5. Staff representatives from all major program and support areas
6. Student leaders
R2. Disability Program Introduction
a. Centers must provide new students with information that will lead to an understanding of the opportunities and benefits available as part of the center’s Disability Program (see Chapter 3, Section 3.4, R1.b.11).
b. Centers must provide a variety of opportunities for new students to meet and interact with the DCs (see Chapter 3, Section 3.4, R1.d.4).
c. The student handbook will include information about the Disability Program (see Chapter 3, Sections 3.4, R1.b.11 and 3.4, R3).
R3. Student Handbook
Centers must develop and distribute to all students a Student Handbook that, at a minimum, accurately reflects center standards of conduct, benefits, policies, and procedures in the areas included in Chapter 3, Section 3.4, R1.b above.
R4. Dress Code/Clothing Selection
Centers must develop a Student Dress Code that reflects center policy regarding appropriate dress as well as the Job Corps Student Dress Standards. Outreach and Admissions staff must include each center’s specific dress code and use of uniforms as part of the centers’ presentation to applicants on Job Corps policies and requirements. The dress code should be published in each center’s Student Handbook and the handbook should include the following minimum expectations for general student, academic classroom, career technical training (CTT) classroom, and off-center dress:
a. General Student Dress Standards:
1. Pants must be appropriate in size and worn at the waist at all times.
2. Clothing depicting violent or nude scenes; and clothing bearing profanity, references to drugs and alcohol, or otherwise provocative or inappropriate slogans, will not be permitted at any time.
b. Academic Classroom Dress Standards:
1. To allow students the opportunity to use the clothing in real work situations, the academic uniform should be without a center logo, a Job Corps logo, or any type of printing.
2. Shoes are to be neat, clean, properly fastened, and free of graffiti or markings.
c. Career Technical Training Classroom Dress Standards:
1. If CTT uniforms are issued, they should always be worn during career technical training class hours.
2. Uniforms will be neat and clean, without tears or holes, and free from markings.
3. Pants will be belted, properly fastened, and worn at the waist.
4. Clothing must be appropriate in size and worn at the proper body position. No undergarments of any kind may be visible.
5. Shoes will be issued with regard to safety issues. Where safety shoes are not required, the choice of shoes will be a standard that would appear in the workplace for that particular vocation. All footwear will be clean, polished, properly fastened, and free of graffiti or markings.
6. For business related CTT programs (e.g., business clerical, accounting technician, medical records assistant, computer repair, retail sales), either the academic outfit or career technical training uniform (if issued) may be worn. Acceptable business attire includes business dresses (knee length), dress pants (worn at the waist), business shirts, pantsuits, or skirts (knee length). Shoes are to be clean, polished and properly fastened, and free of graffiti or markings.
d. Off-Center Activities Dress Standards:
Students are expected to represent themselves as models and representatives of the center, the Job Corps program, and the Department of Labor. All elements of the dress standards will apply.
Centers must provide guidance to students regarding appropriate types of clothing for the workplace in their chosen fields, and centers must ensure that purchases made by students with their cash clothing allowance are for interview and work appropriate clothing.
R5. Student Leadership
Centers must develop and support leadership training that includes, at a minimum:
a. A formal leadership training curriculum
b. Ongoing in-service training for student leaders
R6. Student Government Association (SGA)
Centers must develop and support an SGA program that includes, at a minimum:
a. A designated staff coordinator
b. A written constitution
c. Elected SGA officers
d. Committees that provide input into policies affecting student life on and off center
e. Regular meetings between the Center Director and SGA officers
f. A training plan for SGA officers
R7. Assessing New Students’ Needs and Interests
Using formal and informal methods, centers must assess each new student’s needs and interests to include:
a. Level of academic achievement and competency for appropriate placement into academic classes, using high school transcripts; Individual Education Plan (IEP), if applicable and available; and the Tests of Adult Basic Education (TABE) in accordance with procedures in Chapter 3, Appendix 301 (TABE Requirements and Instructions)
b. Medical status (entrance physical and dental examinations) per Chapter 2, Section 2.3, R2-R4
c. Counseling intake needs/interests assessments using the student’s application as a foundation, counselors must identify at a minimum:
1. Personal history
2. Personal and career aspirations
3. Family status, living situation, and responsibilities
4. Legal issues
5. Personal issues
6. Post-center plans
d. Career aptitude and interests using the My Pathway to Achieving Career Excellence (MyPACE) web-based career planning tool (see Chapter 3, Section 3.4 R9, Career Exploration)
e. Knowledge of and ability to demonstrate the appropriate behaviors associated with the Career Success Standards
f. English language proficiency using: Test of Adult Basic Education Complete Language Assessment System – English (TABE CLAS-E), Basic English Skills Test (BEST), or CASAS (see https://nrsweb.org/solr-search?search_api_views_fulltext=test+benchmarks&field_resource_type=All&field_tta_training_type=All, select Test Benchmarks for NRS Educational Functioning Levels)
g. Basic information technology skills
h. Transitional needs
R8. Using Student Assessments
Results of student assessments must be used in collaboration with the student to:
a. Develop the student’s MyPACE Career Plan and assignment of Pathway Achievement Record (PAR)
b. Schedule appropriate career development classes and activities
c. Develop essential support systems to address each student’s personal and transitional needs
R9. Career Exploration
Centers must:
a. Provide all new students with a variety of career exploration and planning activities designed to provide information and practical experiences that assist students in understanding various factors to consider when making a career choice and setting career goals.
b. Assist each new student in exploring career pathway options using the My Pathway to Achieving Career Excellence (MyPACE) lessons and web-based tool to:
1. Learn about his/her skills, values, work styles, and aptitudes
2. Assess his/her career interests
3. Use regional Labor Market Information (LMI) to explore, identify, and assess potential career opportunities and career training pathway options
4. Investigate training and credentialing requirements for occupations of interest
5. Explore employment potential in the communities where the student may seek employment
6. Identify opportunities for career advancement and sources for post-center continuation of training/educational preparation
c. Provide an explanation of the options for placement or additional training available to each student, including:
1. Entry-level job placement in an in-demand industry sector on the pathway to a student's ultimate career
2. Entry into an apprenticeship program
3. Participation in advanced training
4. Enlistment in the armed services to pursue a career in the military
5. Enrollment in post-secondary education
d. Provide an overview of center career technical training offerings that align with a student's individual career goals documented in his or her MyPACE Career Plan and must include:
1. Wages
2. Working conditions, including physical requirements
3. Required technical training and academic proficiency requirements for the career and industry
4. Advancement potential
5. Related career technical training offerings, postsecondary training, and related careers in the industry
6. Industry-recognized certifications and credential requirements
7. Employment outlook, LMI, and available placement services offered in the geographical areas to which the student is likely to return
8. Practice of general safety
9. Use of hand tools
10. Equipment safety
e. Provide work-based learning experiences (see Chapter 3, Appendix 304), such as:
1. Structured hands-on experience for each career technical area in which the student expresses an interest; no hands-on experience with power tools or moving equipment will be allowed except under the direct supervision of the instructor
2. Workplace tours, employer presentations, and job shadowing to help students refine their career objectives and focus on a specific career technical area
f. Provide goal-setting activities and career counseling using the MyPACE career planning system to assist students in making informed choices on career technical areas to consider
g. Arrange a visit to the nearest One-Stop Career Center/American Job Center to acquaint students with career exploration, training, job placement, and other services and resources available to them; if a One-Stop Career Center/American Job Center is not available in the vicinity, centers must provide opportunities for students to access a virtual One-Stop Career Center/American Job Center via the Internet
R10. Overview of Career Success Standards
Centers must provide each student with an introduction to all eight Career Success Standards (Chapter 3, Section 3.4 R11) and an overview of the standards of conduct for the center. The center will review with each new student the Career Success Standards they will be expected to meet during enrollment in order to successfully participate in the program and become employable.
R11. Required Career Success Standards
Centers must ensure students leave Job Corps with proficiency in the following eight Standards and associated competencies:
a. Workplace Relationships and Ethics
1. Standard: The student will leave Job Corps with the ability to productively interact with co-workers and deal with problems and situations with honesty, integrity, and responsibility.
2. Competencies:
(a) Follows and promotes workplace policies and procedures, including good attendance, being on time, and dressing appropriately for the job.
(b) Understands and supports organizational goals and structure and follows the chain-of-command.
(c) Observes and practices safety standards.
(d) Develops productive relationships with members of his or her team.
(e) Responds well to supervision.
(f) Maintains confidentiality and personal trustworthiness.
(g) Understands and supports the concept of customer service.
b. Interpersonal Skills
1. Standard: The student will leave Job Corps with the ability to get along with others and adjust to a variety of social and professional situations.
2. Competencies:
(a) Takes an active role when working in teams.
(b) Exhibits friendly behaviors and works well within the culture of a group.
(c) Recognizes and respects individual differences and viewpoints.
(d) Manages and resolves conflict with varied negotiation techniques.
(e) Demonstrates flexibility in adjusting to a variety of situations.
(f) Recognizes and manages emotions such as sadness, depression, frustration, and anger.
c. Personal Growth and Development
1. Standard: The student will leave Job Corps with the personal skills, attributes, and behaviors that foster confidence and drive for life-long growth.
2. Competencies:
(a) Uses knowledge of personal strengths, weaknesses, and values in decision-making.
(b) Demonstrates resilience when receiving both positive and negative feedback.
(c) Maintains a healthy lifestyle by managing physical, emotional, and social aspects of daily life.
(d) Uses social networks when balancing work and personal life.
(e) Exhibits self-respect and a positive self-esteem.
(f) Takes initiative and uses opportunities for advancement.
d. Independent Living
1. Standard: The student will leave Job Corps capable of finding, managing, and using the resources needed to maintain employment, satisfy physical and emotional needs, and lead a productive life as an independent adult.
2. Competencies:
(a) Plans and manages time, money, and other resources to support independent living.
(b) Uses available resources to find housing, childcare, transportation, employment, and to make informed consumer decisions.
(c) Makes educated life choices concerning nutrition, fitness, health care, parenting, and sexual responsibility.
(d) Creates and maintains an appropriate support network.
(e) Uses creative problem-solving skills.
e. Career and Personal Planning
1. Standard: The student will leave Job Corps with his/her My Pathway to Achieving Career Excellence (MyPACE) Career Plan and a completed Pathway Achievement Record (PAR), fully prepared to transition to his/her mid-term goal and to effectively access resources and services that will assist him/her in making a successful transition.
2. Competencies:
(a) Sets and redefines short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals.
(b) Acquires, organizes, interprets, and evaluates information from MyPACE career assessments and work-based learning experiences.
(c) Completes MyPACE PAR activities that support career planning in the student’s chosen career placement pathway (mid-term goal).
f. Communications
1. Standard: The student will leave Job Corps with the ability to listen actively, follow directions, and communicate with others to solve problems and accomplish tasks.
2. Competencies:
(a) Expresses and supports ideas through oral, written, and nonverbal communication, such as body language, volume, and tone.
(b) Responds to and acknowledges other people’s views.
(c) Follows directions and asks for clarification.
(d) Understands, uses, and explains procedures.
(e) Uses appropriate language when addressing different audiences.
(f) Demonstrates active listening skills.
g. Multicultural Awareness
1. Standard: The student will leave Job Corps valuing diversity, practicing cultural sensitivity, and able to work with people of different backgrounds and cultures.
2. Competencies:
(a) Understands and appreciates a variety of cultural perspectives and how those enhance productivity.
(b) Demonstrates the ability to value diversity in the workplace.
(c) Understands cultural differences in communication styles.
(d) Positively interacts and fosters relationships with people of different backgrounds.
h. Information Management
1. Standard: The student will leave Job Corps with the ability to interpret and evaluate data, organize, and maintain information, and use technology to perform work.
2. Competencies:
(a) Obtains information from existing sources, including the Internet.
(b) Evaluates the relevancy, accuracy, and appropriate use of data.
(c) Organizes, maintains, and uses information.
(d) Demonstrates capacity to connect data to personal and professional success.
R12. Individualized Opportunities, Projects, and Activities
Centers must use the results of formal and informal assessments of the Career Success Standards conducted in the Career Preparation Period (CPP) to provide each new student with a personal and individualized plan for meeting all eight Standards. The individualized plan must be addressed in the initial student evaluation and uploaded into the Center Information System (CIS) e-Folder, and must include, at a minimum:
a. An overview of the Standards the student does and does not meet
b. Specific opportunities, projects, and activities the student may participate in on center to meet the Standards and how the student will be evaluated regarding his or her participation in these activities
c. Expectations for students to acquire and demonstrate the Career Success Standards in all phases of career development and career transition
R13. Adopting Career Success Standards
Centers must adopt strategies that provide diverse opportunities for each student to learn, practice, and develop competencies to meet all eight Career Success Standards.
Centers must not establish a stand-alone class to teach to the standards. The standards must be integrated into all training and center activities.
R14. Customer Service Training
Centers must conduct customer service skills training within the context of Career Success Standards in the areas of Workplace Relationships and Ethics, Communications, and Interpersonal Skills. At a minimum, the training must include:
a. Understanding the importance of customer service
b. Maintaining a professional attitude
c. Effective oral and written communication skills, including active listening to customers
d. Knowledge of business ethics
e. Understanding the value of establishing and maintaining positive customer relationships
f. Applying critical thinking skills to appropriately handle customer service situations
R15. Conflict Resolution Skills
Centers must provide each new student with instruction in basic conflict resolution techniques within the first 60 days of enrollment.
R16. Introduction to Information Technology
Centers must provide each new student with instruction in the following within the first 60 days of enrollment:
a. The role and impact of technology trends on business and society
b. Basic care and handling of computer hardware and software
c. Basic hardware and software components
d. Basic computer functions:
1. Keyboarding
2. Microsoft Word applications
3. E-mailing
4. Scanning
5. Managing applications (apps)
6. Video Messaging
7. Electronic job searching
e. Use of the MyPACE career exploration tool to:
1. Research and analyze regional Labor Market Information (LMI); and
2. Conduct an occupation search related to student's career interests/training program.
f. Use of the Internet for placement services:
1. Identify community support service resources
2. Access One-Stop Career Center/American Job Center services
g. Appropriate use of the internet and e-mail
R17. Applied Information Technology
Centers must provide students with instruction in the application of basic information technology to assist in the development of their academic skills, career technical skills, career pathway preparation activities, and opportunities to progress through their Pathway Achievement Records (PAR).
R18. Computer-Based Learning
Centers must provide and use information technology to teach academic and career technical skills.
R19. Microsoft Office and Internet Proficiency
Centers must provide students with instruction in the Microsoft Office software and the Internet.
R20. Business Technology and Business Etiquette
Centers must provide students with instruction in business technology and business etiquette (e.g. ethics, email, and Internet).
R21. Required Instruction for Health and Well-Being
Centers must provide instruction to all students in the following subjects:
a. Health education and good decision-making models
b. Emotional and social well-being
c. Depression, grief, and suicide
d. Relationships and sexuality, including relationship aggression
e. Reproduction and birth control
f. Sexually transmitted diseases
g. Consumer health
h. Nutrition and fitness
i. Alcohol and other drugs of abuse
j. Relationship of a healthy lifestyle to successful job retention
k. Sexual assault
l. Sleep hygiene (guidelines to achieve restful sleep)
m. Oral disease prevention and oral hygiene instruction
R22. Activities for Driver's License Attainment
Centers must:
a. Provide driver education training, early in the students’ enrollment, to all eligible students who do not already possess a driver’s license. The training must include classroom and behind-the-wheel instruction that meets state-mandated requirements. Addressing driver’s license requirements on TARs specifically, attainment of a basic and/or commercial driver’s license (CDL) may be required as part of a specific program where vehicle operation is a critical component of employment.
b. Review with each student who does not already possess a license, the steps necessary to attain a license, document these steps in the student's My Pathway to Achieving Career Excellence (MyPACE) Career Plan and Pathway Achievement Records (PAR) and upload in the e-Folder. These actions will take place during CPP.
c. Provide each new student who does not already possess a driver’s license with instruction that will enable him or her to attain a learner’s permit.
d. Initiate driver training during CPP as described in Chapter 3, Section 3.4 R22.a, e and f, whenever possible.
e. Identify students who are prohibited from attaining a driver’s license due to prior offenses and assist these students in re-establishing their eligibility and securing a license prior to completion.
f. Pay all learner’s permit, license, and related test fees.
R23. Job Search Skills
Centers must provide each student with an introduction to basic job search skills within the first 60 days of enrollment. At least 45 days prior to projected graduation, centers must assess and counsel students to determine their capabilities and review job search skills and strategies. The topics must include at a minimum:
a. Identifying personal skills and attributes
b. Identifying sources of employment
c. Inquiring about a job over the telephone
d. Conducting an Internet job search
e. Completing a paper or electronic job application
f. Writing and updating a resume
g. Writing and updating a cover letter
h. Developing job survival skills
i. Interviewing for a job
j. Obtaining information on the apprenticeship, Advanced Training, post-secondary, and military application processes
k. Understanding worker’s rights and responsibilities (e.g., including reasonable accommodation in the workplace)
l. Identifying strategies for succeeding during the first weeks on the job
m. Knowing about the availability and support of Career Transition Services through Job Corps and One-Stop Career Center/American Job Centers
R24. Transitional Needs Assessment
Centers must ensure a student’s MyPACE Career Plan and PARs are complete and all of the following transitional support needs have been addressed:
a. Housing
b. Transportation
c. Child care
d. Health care
e. Work clothing and tools
f. Food and nutrition
g. Budgeting/money management
h. Mentoring/assessment and counseling
i. Job retention support
j. Legal services
k. Federal funding for advanced education, as appropriate
R25. Job Search Credentials
Centers must assist students in assembling documents necessary for obtaining placement in the student’s career pathway mid-term goal, including originals of personal documents and those credentials that document the student’s accomplishments.
R26. Career Pathway Development
As aligned with MyPACE PAR requirements, centers must provide career pathway development, referral, and placement services to graduates as appropriate. For those graduates who entered the program with an employer referral, centers must notify the referring employer of the student’s upcoming graduation.
R27. Transition Resources and Services
At a minimum, centers must connect graduates and former enrollees with career transition resources appropriate to their needs and in accordance with the center CDSS Plan. Centers must:
a. Establish a personal connection between the potential graduate and the career transition services provider.
b. Initiate or support pre-graduation job search efforts.
c. Develop resources to meet transitional support needs.
