According to labor market data and surveys of regional companies, employers have the greatest difficulty hiring entry-level employees with adequate essential skills (aka. soft skills, or professional skills), and thus students will need to these skills in order to take that first step in their career. SDCOE's College and Career Readiness Team has developed this course to help San Diego students learn these skills and apply to jobs and post-secondary education and training. This Essential Skills Training is a train-the-trainer format, designed to build the capacity of district and site educators to deliver the trainings to their students. After completing the Essential Skills training, participants will...

1. Know what Essential Skills are and why they're important to employers and student career readiness.
2. Be able to implement a variety of activities and strategies with their students to help them develop Essential Skills.
3. Have access to SDCOE's Essential Skills training materials and resources to use with their students.