Juana Jule, Executive Director of the Fundación Gloria Kriete and Director of the Programa Oportunidades, explained that the competencies taught in Workeys were the result of consultations with partner companies and expert recruiters.

"Employability training, as a line of work of the Programa Oportunidades, has involved a process of continuous evolution, with the clear goal of training competencies that not only facilitate the entry of young people to their first jobs, but that their presence within companies in institutions makes a difference. Through a 9-month course, which offers 83 topics, forums, workshops, conferences and laboratories, young people acquire soft skills and competencies for employment desired by employers", she explained.

The Programa Oportunidades has been working for 15 years to empower young people in El Salvador through education, digital transformation and employment. It consists of three phases, in which young people are forged through academic excellence and comprehensive training. Its intervention lasts from 5 to 8 years.

Workeys is located within FGK's Training for Employment pillar, it is taught within Phase 3 of the Programa Oportunidades, with Workeys it seeks to position young people as the talent that companies need in the current labor scenario.

Workeys is an online and interactive certification that aims to train 16 soft skills, in 9 months of duration and with three levels of difficulty. The process is carried out under the constant accompaniment of the team of trainers, continuously encouraging the students to grow in competencies and criteria, so that they are the protagonists of their training.

With this certification for employment, Oportunidades once again takes a step forward by involving technology and remote training in its processes, and presents Workeys in its online version.

"With Workeys, they develop competencies and skills such as self-management, change anticipation, intellectual and emotional agility, empathy, leadership, resilience, critical and strategic thinking, among others. Young people understand the environment around them, recognize their talents and personal interests develop their own professional focus and brand, which empowers them to design their job positioning strategy and guides them towards professional maturity and independence", Jule added.

To ensure successful youth outreach in the area of job brokering, Phase 3 includes three essential steps:

1) Local labor market research.

2) Education and strengthening of employment skills.

3) Accompaniment and orientation, which in turn involves labor intermediation services in employment or accompaniment to promote entrepreneurship.

The Programa Oportunidades also has an employment exchange to promote and place young scholarship holders who have graduated, graduated or are in their last year of university.

Through the exchange, they can access job opportunities demanded by formal companies that offer conditions conducive to improving their quality of life and that of their families. This year, 158 young people have been placed, of which 120 are in a permanent position and 38 in internships.

"The Programa Oportunidades has positively impacted the lives, health and family economy of more than 3,000 young people since 2007. In these 15 years we have placed more than 787 young people from the program in internships and jobs", commented Claudia Diaz, Director of Labor Intermediation for Oportunidades.

During the time the program has been in operation, 1,340 scholarships for higher education have been awarded. The Programa Oportunidades seeks to increase the opportunities for social inclusion and success of young people of both sexes, with limited resources and academic excellence, through comprehensive training that accompanies and guides them through high school, higher education and their first job placement. More information can be found at https://www.oportunidades.org.sv