This interactive, virtual Train-the-Trainer session was designed to prepare professionals such as social workers, educators, and youth program staff to effectively teach job interview skills to foster youth using trauma-informed strategies and engaging digital tools. The session recognizes the unique barriers foster youth face in preparing for employment, including limited adult guidance, trauma, and anxiety, and equips facilitators with practical tools to support youth with empathy and structure.

Grounded in Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory: Emphasizing the importance of learning through experience. Participants move through a cycle of active participation, reflection, conceptualization, and application mirroring how youth learn best when engaged in hands-on, real-world activities. 

The instructional design follows Gagné’s Nine Events of Instruction, beginning with gaining attention through discussion of real-life barriers, providing objectives, activating prior knowledge, presenting multimedia content, and culminating in hands-on role-play practice and feedback using structured rubrics. Each stage supports scaffolded learning and reinforces participant engagement and retention.

To assess impact, Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Evaluation are embedded throughout:

• Reaction: participants reflect on relevance and usefulness
  
  

• Learning: observed through discussions and role-play application
  
  

• Behavior: trainers are encouraged to implement these strategies in their own settings
  
  

• Results: long-term goal is improved interview outcomes for foster youth
  
  

The session makes full use of the Career Launchpad Interview Toolkit, which includes:

• A recorded mock interview audio clip featuring a real former foster youth
  
  

• Two animated videos (“Preparing for the Interview” and “Common Questions”)
  
  

• A printable infographic (“5 Steps to Interview Success”)
  
  

• Realistic role-play scenarios and peer feedback rubrics
  
  

• Trauma-informed teaching tips for supporting vulnerable learners
  
  

Participants leave with access to all toolkit materials, empowering them to replicate or adapt the training in their own programs.

Below is a facilitator’s guide and sample slide deck, featuring role play as a core facilitation strategy.