Grade 9 students have to face the difficult reality of choosing the subjects that help determine what area of work they will go into. This decision is often very daunting and most students aren’t sure what career path they want to pursue.
Fairmont High has been using revolutionary career technology from a company called Yenza, which is a career guidance and development app that automates personalised, accurate career pathway recommendations. To find out if this technology really works, we asked Anne Friedenthal from Fairmont High some questions. Here’s what she had to say.
Q1: How does the Yenza app compare to other online career services you’ve seen?
A: Yenza has a lot more information than other career solutions I’ve seen, and packages that information in a way that is very accessible for learners.
Q2: We often hear online solutions can be very hard to manage operationally. How did your school experience rolling out Yenza to your pupils?
A: Very easy. Each learner was allocated their own access code which we distributed via email and they had no issues accessing the platform. We also received great instructional material which made the rollout smooth.
Q3: If you experienced COVID disruptions last term, did you find having a tool like Yenza to be valuable?
A: Invaluable. We experienced no disruption and, because the platform is self-directed and easy to use so students were able to benefit from home.
Q4: When it comes to career guidance, it’s critical that the pupil goes through their own personal process to make the right choices. Do you feel the Yenza platform delivers on this?
A: Yes. Since they have a broad range of different assessments, it gives them a bigger picture of their strengths, interests, and career paths.
Q5: When your Grade 9’s did their subject choices, did you find that Yenza enabled them to navigate through an overwhelming amount of information very easily and quickly?
A: The learners found the process easy, fast and helpful. They were able to come to their own conclusions, which made sense most of the time.
Q6: Often we hear Counsellors, Edu. Psychologists and LO teachers struggle to dedicate enough time to each pupil when it comes to career guidance. Do you find a tool like Yenza helps with this?
A: It is a very useful resource. It gave us some more “meat” in our lessons when covering this topic.
Q7: Most importantly, what was the feedback you received from your pupils? How did they find the assessments? What was their experience using the app?
A: They enjoyed using it and the feedback was generally very positive. It’s hard to get young kids animated and engaged, and Yenza certainly did that!
Q8: You’ve got more than a decade of experience in the careers education space. Given what you know about similar services, do you think Yenza is a high-value product – especially for its price point? If so, why?
A: Absolutely. It is very good value for money. We especially love that we can add our Grade 11’s at no additional cost. Most other services charge for each aspect separately.
Q9: You purchased Yenza for your Grade 11’s which you are still to roll out, what aspect of the app do you think they will benefit from the most?
A: Definitely the information about careers. Careers are covered in depth and our learners really understand each career a lot better after using Yenza.
Q10: Would you recommend Yenza to other schools, if so, why?
A: Definitely. The feedback is almost instant. The guidance through the app is done in a way that it’s easy for anyone to understand and benefit from. Any queries were handled very efficiently. We experienced no hiccups.
To find out more about Yenza and their amazing Career Guidance Tool, email Jared Molko via email at [email protected] or contact him on 076 958 5885. To view their website, click here