| 
A vital part of the FAO program, the Cohort Meeting prepares interns for the workplace. FAO interns are required to attend monthly cohort meetings at FAO headquarters, where they meet with other interns and FAO staff members. They practice their listening and introducing skills during the opening warm-up exercises. They share their workplace experiences and learn appropriate ways to handle various situations, such as calling in ahead of time when they know they will be late or absent, taking initiative, and developing the interpersonal skills to deal with diverse people in the business environment.
Each meeting has a particular content focus. Topics that are addressed each year include: workplace expectations and proper office decorum; conflict resolution strategies; preparing monthly budgets and tracking expenses; evaluating credit card offers, reading credit card statements and avoiding credit card debt; personal and workplace ethics; setting up bank accounts, saving money and choosing investments; college applications and financial aid; evaluation criteria and methods.
The monthly cohort meetings enable FAO Inc. staff to monitor the interns' progress throughout the semester and complement the once-a-semester site visit and the end-of-semester evaluation by the site supervisor. The benefits of these meetings are substantial.
|
