Students practice interview skills at career fair
Mar. 21—Judi Townsend spent last week covering life skills such as interviewing, creating a clean, strong resume, giving handshakes and making eye contact with her Kokomo Area Career Center students.
The health sciences academy teacher also covered how to read a paycheck, the difference between net and gross pay and post-tax deductions.
They're all important skills for any student to have, especially career center students, many of whom are preparing to enter the workforce.
"It giving them life skills for the future," Townsend said.
Financial literacy has been a particular interest among career center students, according to director Jonathan Schuck.
"That's been a big thing they've been interested about and they know they need it," he said.
On Friday, career center students practiced some of those soft skills during a career fair.
Forty employers — including city of Kokomo, Howard County Sheriff's Department, Chariot Automotive and Primrose Retirement Community — were at the high school campus all day to chat with career center juniors and seniors. Businesses reflected the offerings at the career center.
"We made it a goal as a staff two have two industries from each program (at the career center)," Schuck said.
Though Plez Lawrence is headed to Indiana State University to play football this fall, he has aspirations of starting his own business one day. He's in the business program at the career center and also participated in the Kokomo CEO program as a junior.
"It's been great to learn about local businesses and what they have to offer," he said. "They've been really helpful about how they can help you with college."
Employers offering to pay for college — either partially or in full — is a growing trend to attract talent, as are apprenticeships.
Kaitlin Newland plans to attend Ball State University to be a nurse practitioner, but the career fair helped her understand what other paths she can take in the same, or similar, fields.
"It's helped broaden my perspective," she said.
Businesses didn't choose to participate just to help students practice their skills, though.
Don Frick, vice president of operations at Chariot Automotive Group, is in an industry that is high in demand for automotive technicians. A shortage ranging in the hundreds of thousands is expected by 2025, he said.
"We really have to get ahead of that," Frick said.
The VP has worked to develop a relationship with the KACC. Part of his job is to explain to students what the they can do in the industry. It's not just working on cars. Salespersons as well as more computer-savvy people have a place at businesses like Chariot Automotive.
"There are a lot of directions that you can go," Frick said.
RL Turner, a Zionsville-based contractor, wouldn't mind having a few more KACC students working for them. The contracting company has worked with Kokomo School Corporation on a number of projects, including the football and softball stadium renovations.
Layne Cameron, marketing and communications manager for RL Turner, recalled two KACC students they had as interns recently. Both are returning to work for them again in some capacity.
"The students we get are qualified students," he said.
Townsend said there was interest, not just from Kokomo-area businesses, but from businesses in the general region as the demand for staff persists.
"We actually had people calling looking for workers," she said.
Spencer Durham can be reached at 765-454-8598, by email at spencer.durham@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @Durham_KT.
