Businesses need workers with the right skills. Wake high school program aims to help.
Businesses and teenagers are needed to participate in a new summer program to teach Wake County high school students about the skills they’ll need to get jobs.
WakeEd Partnership is kicking off its new “Career Accelerator” program to help 1,000 Wake County high school students explore career opportunities in a two-week, hands-on program in July. WakeEd needs companies to host students and teachers and to provide guest speakers and panelists to lead workshops.
The program comes at a time when many businesses say that the workers they’re looking for lack the necessary job skills.
“This is workforce development,” Keith Poston, president of WakeEd Partnership, said in an interview. “We’re not going to keep recruiting companies here if they also have to import their workers.”
Poston said that the students will leave the summer program knowing how to build a resume and create a LinkedIn profile. They’ll learn other skills such as things you shouldn’t do on social media and the top 10 mistakes in job interviews.
Students will work in teams to solve a “real industry problem” and will present their solutions to a panel of industry experts in a “Shark Tank”-style format, similar to the popular TV show.
“We want to be as practical as possible for students because these students are so close,” Poston said. “They’re the workforce pretty soon. We want the students coming out of Wake County Public Schools to take advantage of all the jobs here.”
Career Accelerator is similar to the SummerSTEM program, where WakeEd provides Wake teachers with a chance to work in the summer with local businesses. Teachers find out what job skills businesses say are needed and share the information with their students.
WakeEd is a business-backed, non-profit advocacy group that supports public education. Earlier this year, it opened a location in Cary where Wake County teachers can get free classroom supplies.
Registration opens soon for students
Poston said that, so far, they’ve recruited 20 of the 40 companies they need. He said the list of participating businesses includes Amazon, Credit Suisse, Epic Games, IBM, Martin Marietta and Red Hat.
Soon, Poston said individual Wake County high schools will begin taking applications for the summer program. Registration will be open to students who are currently freshmen, sophomores and juniors.
The program will be based at nine locations across the county, possibly high schools. Poston said WakeEd will provide students transportation to those locations as well as to any of the businesses they visit. Meals will also be provided.
The program is being funded this year from a grant provided to the Wake County school system. But Poston said that WakeEd is seeking funding to make the Career Accelerator a permanent program.
Go to www.wakeed.org/ for more information on the Career Accelerator.
