virtual career fair and job shadowing presentation

+

SE PA Virtual Career Fair & Job Shadows 2010:Digital Services and Lessons Learned

Presented by Michele Martin, Delaware County RCEP, Laura Heikkila & Laura McOdrum, Chester County RCEP and Michael Schweisheimer & Deb Arnold Brown, Primitive World Productions

+Objectives

Overview of the Virtual Career Fair

Review “Lessons Learned”

Overview of Virtual Job Shadow Project

+

The Virtual Career Fair

+Our Goals

Encourage you to: Try this concept in your area Join us next year

+Going Regional—RCEPs

Bucks

Chester

Delaware

Lehigh Valley

Montgomery

+Target Audiences

Students

Parents

Educators

RCEP Network

Youth-serving Organizations

+Why go virtual?Convenience—for both the audience and presenters

Archived materials for re-useAnother way to get to parents and students

Scalability & sharing—expand our reach

Experiment with different technologiesGo Green!

+By the Numbers. . .

3 Days—11 a.m.-1 p.m. and 6:30-8:30 p.m.

8 Live Webinars (now archived and available)

6 Pre-Recorded “Events”

Dozens of resource and lesson links

1,304 visitors to our main website

5,389 page views

233 attendees at “live” events

104 members of our Virtual Career Fair Network

+Topics for Webinars

Summer Jobs

How to Interview

Employer Expectations

PA High Priority Occupations

How to Pay for College

Alternative Pathways to Success—2+2+2

InterviewStream

ExploreYourFuture.org

Social Media for Parents (pre-Career Fair “marketing” webinar)

+Technology ToolsCustomized Ning Network

Wikispaces

Twitter

Facebook

Google Docs

Go-to-Webinar

Vimeo

+Google Docs—Planning Tool

+Ning Network

http://sepacareerfair2010.ning.com/

+Google Analytics Says. . .

+Traffic . . .

+Virtual Career Fair Wiki

http://sepacareerfair2010.wikispaces.com/

+Presentation Pages

+Promotional Page

+Traffic

April 2010 May 2010

+Twitter

+Promotion

Online—Twitter, Email, Newsletters, Websites

Schools

Libraries

Parent Groups—newsletters, state-wide PTA

PA School Counselors Association

Home School Groups

RCEP Network

Newspapers

+

What They Said. . . .

N=42

+

+

+

+

+What Worked?

Technology

Removed barriers for employer & school participation

It was easy to access and participate—didn’t need to be technologically savvy to participate

Practice sessions with presenters

+Challenges

Technology

Promotion

Scheduling

Coaching/Preparation for Presenters

+Lessons Learned

The personality of the webinar presenter and their comfort level is CRITICAL.

Use polls!

Have two people to provide tech support (in addition to the speaker)

Prepare, prepare, prepare

+Lessons Learned

Presenters should be conversational—need interaction & dialog

Figure out how much planning time you will need—and then triple it!

Test the technology ahead of time—a few times.

+What We Want to ChangeImprove quality of presentations—more interaction, visuals

Dates

Try different webinar platform

Expand offerings/events

Build technology skills of team

Survey participants ahead of time

+CostsNing, Wikispaces, Twitter, Google Docs, Facebook Fan Page—Free

Go-to-Webinar—Free (used RCEP account)

Vimeo--$9.95/month

Promotion—Free (Press releases)

Staff Time—approx. 200 hours

+What Do You Need?Do it with an existing team—or build in a lot more time

Teams/Individuals focused on: Technology Promotion of the event Recruiting presenters

The right tools/software—you may have to pay!

+What Do You Need?

Instructions/resources to support users and make them comfortable—presenters & participants

Flexibility

Sense of humor

Join our effort next year!

+

The Virtual Job Shadows

+Objectives

Provide online access to job shadow experiences for students

Provide additional tools/resources to support career exploration

Expose students to real-life careers in Delaware and Chester counties

+Why go virtual?

Reduce logistical challenges of field trips

Scalability—expose more students to more opportunities

Easier to supplement with resources

Convenience for employers

Connect to Virtual Career Fair

+Virtual Job Shadow Portal

Job shadow videos

Associated labor market information

Career assessment tools

Forum for connecting to employers—virtual mentoring

Create shared community

+Primitive World ProductionsExperienced in creating job shadow videos, particularly in STEM careers

Online and DVD content

Responsive to our needs

Fun to work with!

+The Companies/OrganizationsSouthco

Sikorsky Global Helicopters

Delaware County Community College STEM Center

Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI)

Bentley Systems, Inc.

+Value of Video in the PortalTells stories, not just facts

Engages students with relatable human experiences

Demonstrates real-life career paths

+Contact Us!Laura Heikkila --

LHeikkila@cceconomicdevelopment.com

Michele Martin-- michelemmartin@gmail.com

Laura McOdrum-- lmcodrum@chesco.org

Michael Schweisheimer--Michael@pwpvideo.com

Debbie Arnold Brown--debbie@pwpvideo.com