For every ideal or goal comes the question of where do you start. I’ve met many peers that want to enter the business world, yet lack the experience or knowledge to do so. Typically, I suggest them the Junior Achievement Company Program.
What Am I Here to Discuss?
I’m here to look back on Company Program from this year, not to shill for it entirely, because I’m not an ambassador. I know I opened this like a YouTube sponsorship, but I wont just be saying that Junior Achievement is some perfect program for everybody. First Ill give a brief run-through of what CP is.
CP brings multiple youth together to start a company. There are mentors that guide the team at the beginning, but eventually the youth are meant to run the company themselves. This means electing VPs for various business fields, such as finance, and producing a product or service. Nearing the end of the program, the team or individual youth can win awards or scholarships.
Now that’s a basic factual description of the program, many of the benefits and downsides are variable and come through team dynamic.
In My Opinion…
Despite not being an ambassador, I still enjoy the program a lot. Its a great way to develop business experience, while improving team-work and leadership skills. Its a very unique opportunity that I recommend if looking towards boosting your resume or simply getting that entrepreneurship experience. I know that many scholarships look for that type of profile.
I’ve had a lot of fun both years that I’ve participated in the program. You meet some great people, and gain valuable knowledge along the way. It offers a lot of creativity while including a lot of responsibility.
Despite this, its inevitable that you don’t vibe with every other team member. There are going to people that are forced by their parents and don’t want to be there. Not everyone will mesh, and not everyone will have the same outlook or motivation to participate in the program. That’s where you need to put in effort to communicate with them, so it CAN include additional effort or communicational skills than you expect.
That’s a big part of my perspective on company program. If you aren’t the greatest team player, then Company Program may not be for you. If you don’t have the time or commitment, it might not be for you. However, it could also be an opportunity to imp[rove your team working skills, but you need to enter with that mindset of improving.
Occurrences This Year
The program is typically 18 weeks long, and was 15 weeks this year. That is a long time to stay committed to a challenging extra curricular activity. However, at least for me, completing the program fully is an incredible feeling of achievement.
Additionally, COVID-19 limited what products and services we could sell. We were unable to touch any product we were selling. I completely agree with the decision to do this. Despite this, it felt a bit sad to be limited in this way, although necessary.
There have been some communication mishaps between teams and the organization, Typically this came in the form of unclear instructions. This may be an issue on my part, but I was unable to find examples of company documents online for what the organizations wanted. For example, for the shareholders report and business plans, teams were forced to use documents from their past teams. This is also likely part of the job of the mentors. However, I find it odd that they don’t have example documents as ours are shorter and different from those of actual companies.
The Company Program takes a lot of work and commitment, but offers a potentially valuable and very unique experience. Check this link if you’d be interested in the Company Program. Junior Achievement offers many other programs aswell that are worth looking into.
