Preparing Today’s Local Students for Tomorrow’s Local Jobs
The Skills for Success program is aimed at retaining and strengthening the business community’s greatest resource - the students who will fill tomorrow’s jobs.
The brainchild of the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce Education and Workforce Development Committee, Skills for Success was developed in 2005 to address two major concerns expressed by many local businesses:
(1) Students lack the “soft skills” necessary to be effective employees; and
(2) Students are unaware of employment opportunities in their own city.
The Chamber’s response involved a partnership program matching businesses with middle- and high-school classrooms to discuss workplace ethics, soft skills and job opportunities in Flagstaff. In the Skills for Success program, business representatives go into the classroom to meet with students and, if possible, give tours of their workplaces to students. These partnerships have included lectures; mock interview sessions; resume writing tips; discussion of emerging careers; and workplace tours. Many partnerships also resulted in students obtaining jobs or internships at the partnering business.
This initiative allows the business community to show students job opportunities available locally so that we can retain the workers needed in Flagstaff to make our businesses thrive and grow.
What Businesses & Teachers are Saying About Skills for Success
“I was thrilled to see my students making connections to the real world of work outside school and this program is of great value in that it gives students the opportunity to see that they can stay in Flagstaff and lead a great career.”
– John Heyl, Sinagua High School Teacher
“It’s important having someone there, besides a teacher, telling these students that what we are trying to instill in them in school is applicable to work. I really do appreciate the businesses stepping up and helping with the future workforce.”
– Richard Dean, Sinagua High School Teacher
“...[W]e are able to show students about an emerging marketplace in utilities. This could inspire them to pursue a career in renewable energy, which is going to become a very large part of the energy market in five to 10 years, just about when these students are going to be looking for a job.”
– Cindy May, Community Development Manager, Northeast Division, APS
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Human Resource Specialist Lee Smith conducts mock interviews at Machine Solutions with students from Sinagua High School. |
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Students at Mount Elden Middle School participating in an “energy scavenger hunt” organized by their Skills for Success business partner, APS. |
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Honors for Skills for Success
• Finalist – 2009 “Best Practices” Business/Education Partnership Award, Arizona Business Education Coalition.
• Finalist “2008 Excellence in Economic Development Awards,” Arizona Governor’s Rural Economic Development Conference. |
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