Andrés Ramírez Gossler, Facundo Schinnea - eCommerce Day Chile 2024
Your Future at Work Program
1. Purpose, process, and pointers for developing programs
to promote local opportunities to community youth.
2. • New Executive Director of Chamber toured businesses
• Local businesses seeking more local talent
• Local high school seeking to inform students of local
opportunities
• Parents seeking better picture of what their community
might offer for their kids
• Stakeholders got together to brainstorm how they might
help each other find what they’re seeking and define a
mutual purpose.
Feeling the Need
3. • Audience
• High School Sophomores (catch students before they
start to seriously shop for colleges)
• Teachers (connect teachers with area businesses)
• Parents (inform parents about local opportunities as
they start talking with children about post-secondary
plans)
• Reaching the target audience
• Interactive
• Fast-paced
• Engaging
Filling the Need
5. 1. Committee of Key Players develops schedule/targets
career fields
2. Seek buy-in from Schools and Businesses
3. Empower Student choice -survey Students to sign-up for
available sessions
4. Communicate expectations to Businesses and market
the Event in the local community
5. Register the Students
6. Finalize logistics with venue (esp. number of
rooms/booths needed)
Planning & Execution
6. • Provide training for business presenters
• Student name tags include the day’s schedule
• T-shirts for Volunteers to identify who can help
• Clear signage helps facilitate quick transitions
• Parent awareness and involvement in the event
Lessons Learned
8. Please feel free to contact us at:
Barb Den Herder – Executive Director
barbdh@siouxcenterchamber.com
Erica Roth – Recruiting Manager
erica.roth@interstates.com
Questions?
Editor's Notes
Barb Intro
BARB-INTRO
How do students decide what they want to do after graduation? Could we show them the variety of opportunities that are right in their backyard? These type of questions are what started a local group to look at offering an event that would highlight amazing opportunities and a variety of career paths to local students.
Return on Investment is not short-term.
All feeling the same need…just needed to get together.
My talking to businesses/my increased awareness/as a parent of hs/conversation with school and then ultimately with Interstates
Key stakeholders include: school (both high school and colleges and both administrators and staff), business community, chamber, economic development. For the event to be successful, stakeholders need to put own agendas aside and look at the mutual purpose of
ERICA-
Discuss business side. Give some Interstates examples and how this event is different than what we currently do.
ERICA
Why did we pick sophomores? Foundation for jr event at ncc
Main points:
BARB
Not a career fair/lecture style. Instead it’s hands-on/interactive.
Partnered with ISU extension so they could help businesses prepare in how to engage 16 year old.
ERICA
We welcomed students as they arrive – brief intro for speakers.
After speakers, we gave more direction for the afternoon.
Sessions are assigned based on student survey. 20 minutes per session – which leaves 10-15 min for speaking and 5-10 min for questions.
Included 10 min breaks for students to transition. Our venue was fairly spread out between sessions.
One session is dedicated for students to visit the booth area and meet more businesses. Rotated groups of students so that we didn’t overwhelm the booth area.
BARB
Booths and sessions
Interactive sessions/hands-on
Change our verbiage to be session rather presentation
Registering Students-don’t underestimate (2500)
Costs are minimal due to partnering with local colleges, grants from NWIED, and Foundation.
Expenses include: a meal for the students, t-shirts for volunteers, bags for each student, marketing materials, pens, notepads, etc.
ERICA
Examples of good sessions:
3D visual goggles
Drone
Hospital
ASB booth-oversized jenga
BARB
Master list so if parents come, they can find their child
Large enough sandwiches
Evaluations are helpful for following year-feedback from businesses and students
What’s next-our goal is that this event is not a “stand-alone” event….that each school can take the information the students learned and implement into their future planning. School counselors are a vital piece.. We left this up to each school as they each handle this differently.