The Tribune

By JEFFARAH GIBSON

Tribune Features Writer

jgibson@tribunemedia.net

Richine Bethel finds fulfilment in empowering youth, helping them organise their lives and goals through her Millennial Enterprise initiative.

As a guidance counsellor at the Charles W Saunders Baptist High School, Richine is tasked with helping young people work through any confusion they may have concerning their future and career path.

Nine years ago, she took a leap of faith and also launched herself as a young entrepreneur, which afforded her the opportunity to interact with Bahamians of all ages and backgrounds.

Millennial Enterprise is a movement geared towards providing profitable opportunities, fostering personal development, and cultivating leadership skills with the millennial and younger generations. She said the organisation was launched to change the perception of today’s youth.

“Millennial Enterprise is the mother company for anything that I do and its aim is to see the next generation leading in confidence and capitalising on it. An extensional component of the organisation is the Fresh Seekers College Club,” she explained.

“Through Millennial Enterprise and my career choice, I am on a mission to unite, enhance, develop and focus the millennial and younger generations of world leaders and shifters all around our country,” she told Tribune Woman.

One unique way she has found to do this is through a special initiative called the Mock Interview Challenge, which helps students ready themselves for the job hunt once they have completed school.

Richine has partnered with many local businesses, including Aliv, BTC, Bahamas Food Services, Lowe’s Wholesale and Bahamas First, to conduct this challenge.

“The mock interview is an experimental concept that I have exposed my 12th grade students to. This mock interview provides the experience and the exposure needed to prepare my young up-and-coming graduates for what the job market has to offer,” she said.

“Students are prepared in grade 10 and 11 for this exercise and the first term in grade 12 we focus on fine-tuning their portfolios for the mock interviews. Students are bussed to the organisation fully dressed for their interview and are treated not as if they are high school students but rather a young man or woman that applied for the vacant position within the company.”

At the end of the challenge, students are graded by the interviewer. “They are told either “hired”, “under consideration”, “we might have hired you, but...”, or “don’t call us we will call you”, as if it were a real interview.

“When I launched the idea of the mock interview challenge in 2017 I fell in love with the concept of the shock treatment that this exercise provides. Working in the school environment we see first-hand the level of maturity and understanding that our students possess. The harsh reality is that most of our students believe they are ready for life after graduation but they have no experience of anything outside of the school environment, meaning they have never had a summer job or a Christmas job to build work experience,” Richine explained.

“As teachers and guidance counsellors, we do mock interview drills in schools, but for a total stranger to interview you and treat you as a graduate applying for an entry level position is taking it to another level, which is what is needed. By the time we are done with the interviews, my students experience a shift in the way that they think, look at graduating and preparing for the real world. That is what I love about the challenge. Most times I’m told by my students, “Ms B, I am not ready”, or “Ms B, I really need to prepare myself some more; it was OK but it was not what I expected.”

One of the most exciting portions the exercise for Richine is when the students are actually hired or provided with an internship upon graduation if there is availability.

“This year, all of our local business partners have agreed and identified at least one student to be a blessing to. This is not work for me, this is a calling, and I love what I do,” she said.