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Right, so hello and welcome, um, everyone to our 30 Minutes of Excellence today, but we’re actually probably going to go over 30 minutes today, because I’m going to give us a chance to kind of interact in breakout rooms, but.
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Um, our 30 Minutes of Excellence session today is going to be focusing on celebrating workforce development month.
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So, again, welcome, we’re glad to have you here. Um, it’s always energizing when we get workforce development professionals in the same room.
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Um, and to really, uh, encourage and to, you know, get excited about the wonderful work that we do every day. Today is no different. Um, so feel free, again, if you are just joining us, feel free to introduce yourself in the chat box.
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And I will introduce myself. So, my name is Kim Meadows.
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Um, I am the training director here at the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals.
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Um, been in this role for about 3 years now. Absolutely love my job. I love serving workforce development professionals, you all in the work that you do.
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Every day. Um, I don’t want to take it for granted that everybody knows who.
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We are, um, and so you hear me say not up. If you hear, uh, nod up, it is the acronym for the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals.
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So, just in case some of you are new, or you haven’t heard of NADA, um, I just want to do just a quick commercial on NADA. Um, so we are a membership association.
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We have about 5,000 members throughout the country, um, and we really stand on three pillars here at NAW, and those three pillars are connect, advance, and innovate. That’s really what we do, um, in serving workforce development professionals.
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Um, every day, so we want to make sure that we are connected and connecting you all, so we’ll do that through just a variety of ways. We’ll talk about that a little bit more, uh, in a moment.
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Um, but we also want to advance the profession, uh, and advance what we’re doing, not only in the industry, but also that… the fact that, uh, people outside of our industry know what workforce development is.
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And… which is really one of the reasons why we really celebrate workforce development month. And then, of course, we want to innovate. We want to make sure that we are keeping up with best practices, that we’re learning those things, and that we’re able to share those with you all.
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Um, so those are our three pillars that we stand on at Nautil.
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Um, if you are not a member of NAW, uh, feel free to come to our website, or you can email me directly, um, at the end to get more information. I’m not sure if our training director, Alexis Franks, is on. I can’t… tail, but, um, Alexis is our Director of Membership, and she will be happy to speak with you as well.
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So that’s just a little bit about NADA, just in case this is your first time joining us on one of our webinars.
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And so, really, today, what our discussion is going to be about is celebrating workforce development month. So, our topics of discussion, we’re going to talk about workforce development month.
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But I also want to give you some strategies to use, um, talk a little bit about our NADOT toolkits as well, and also, I want to be able to share our logo with you and some hashtags that we’re using, and we want to kind of brand our efforts around workforce development Month.
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Um, of course, this is the milestone year for us. So, it’s the 20th anniversary, two decades, of celebrating workforce development month. So, it’s gonna be a really big deal, um, as we celebrate these two-year… 20 years, not two years.
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20 years in workforce development. So, my challenge to you all, and to myself as well, but our challenge.
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Um, personally, but I want to just also put this out here for y’all, is.
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This year, for workforce development month, I really want to challenge us to make some noise.
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Let’s make some noise about workforce development. Let’s make some noise about our wonderful programs, about our success stories.
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Um, and just about the impact that workforce development has. So there’s a lot going on at the federal level, there’s a lot going on at the state level, there’s a lot going on at the local level, there’s a lot going on in our community.
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And so we really want everybody to know all of the wonderful things that we’re doing in workforce development. So, I’m going to challenge you, as we’re thinking through this, and as we’re going through.
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Um, our presentation today. Let’s think about some ways we can make some noise. Let’s make some noise so that, uh, people know the great work that we’re doing.
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Um, I remember one time early in my career, um, I was working with a local workforce board at WIOA.
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And I was being introduced, and I was gonna talk about some of the programs that we offered. And when they introduced me, they introduced me as Kim Meadows. I work with the WIOA program, but they introduced me as the best-kept secret in our community.
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And I remember at that time just thinking, we don’t want to be the best kept secret. And, you know, that kind of… that was kind of a narrative around workforce development programs at the time, which was about 10 years ago.
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Or maybe about 15 years ago, um, when I had this, this particular situation.
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But it always stayed with me, and I always wanted to make sure that we are not the best kept secret, because the work we do is very important, and so my challenge, uh, for workforce development month is to make some noise.
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Um, I wanted to make sure that we did. The… this webinar, um, prior to Workforce Development Month.
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Sometimes, if we wait until September, and we’re, you know, a week into September, now all of a sudden, as you’re starting to plan half of the month is already gone.
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Um, so I want us to be proactive. I want you to be proactive when you get out this, um, webinar.
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Today, you’ve gotten some ideas, or you’ve consulted with your colleagues.
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Come up with a plan of how you are going to make some noise, how you’re going to celebrate.
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Workforce Development Month, so I wanted to make sure to do it a couple of weeks in advance of Workforce Development Month, so we can already start planning.
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Okay, so I’m going to give you a very short history lesson, and this is gonna be very, very short, and I’ve highlighted some of the important things.
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But, um, NADA did start Workforce Development Month, and it was started back in 2005.
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And it was starting to raise awareness about the importance of our industry. So, it started back in 2005.
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And, uh, really to kind of let the community know, let everybody know the critical links that workforce development plays.
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And connected job seekers with businesses, and job seekers with training, and then also making sure businesses.
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Get those, you know, that, um, talent pool that they’re looking for.
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So, workforce development professionals and the industry in itself plays a critical role in filling that gap. That’s kind of how workforce development month started back in 2005.
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Um, and then in 2021, Congress, the 117th Congress, actually enacted a resolution designating.
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September of 2021 is National Workforce Development Month. So, of course, that was right after the pandemic, the year after the pandemic, um, and Congress did recognize the importance of workforce development.
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So that’s kind of a short history lesson, and you can find more information about that on our website, and I’ll also send you this resolution if you want to read that entire resolution just to see what Congress passed.
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5 years ago. Okay, but let me give you… I want to start off, um, our time together just by giving you some strategies that you can think about implementing.
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In your organization or in your community, just to, again, get the information out there, um, of who you are and what your organization does.
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Okay, so the first one I want to talk about is to host an open house.
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And if you’ve done any of these, I’d love for you to put those in the chat box.
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If you have done an open house, or if there are any other things that you have, um, done.
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As far as Workforce Development Month, or just outreach in general, love for you to put that in the chat box, because again, we learn from each other. I don’t want to just sit… I don’t want to just give you a lot of information. I want us to be able to share information.
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So, make sure you put that in the chat box if there’s something else that you’ve done. So, um, hosting an open house. So.
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Think about those people when we’re thinking about opening, uh, hosting an open house.
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Who are those people who don’t necessarily come to your organization? So, you know, aside from job seekers, who else in the community.
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Um, doesn’t know about your organization, those are the people that we really want to target in an open house, those people who don’t necessarily know.
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Um, about our organization. Open up your doors! Invite them in, um, really have your elevator speech together, you know, that 30.
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Second to one-minute elevator speech about, this is what our organization does, this is who we are, this is what we’re doing well.
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Um, open it up to locally elected officials, open it up to community members.
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Open it up to your partner. Sometimes we have partnerships, but our partnerships meet in a different location, right? Or sometimes we just see each other at resource fairs, or career fairs, or, um, business… other business events that are outside of our organization.
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So I’ll open up your doors and see, uh, who you can invite in, who doesn’t necessarily always come into your organization.
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Um, also, if you have job seekers, or if you serve job seekers, have an open house for job seekers.
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Um, have an open house for people who are looking for training. So, they… they may already have a job, they may not necessarily see themselves.
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Uh, utilizing your services, but they may not see themselves utilizing your services because they don’t know what services you have to offer.
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So, go ahead and, uh, think about how you can prepare or, um, plan an open house. So, you know, if you’re jotting down anything right now, just jot down.
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Uh, who you can invite to an open house, when you can have that open house, how you can really.
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Frame that around workforce development month. Also, highlight your success stories.
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So, make sure, and we don’t want to do this just during workforce development month, right? We want to keep this up throughout the year. We don’t want to wait until, you know, our programs are in jeopardy, or when we’re trying to do outreach and get a lot of people into our programs. We want.
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Highlighting success stories to be, um, an ongoing and consistent thing that we do in our organization. So.
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Think about highlighting a job seeker, um, who may have started off unemployed.
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Came through your organization, maybe they received training, maybe they went to a workshop, maybe they came to a job fair.
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And then, how do they benefit? So, you know, kind of the before and after.
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And then, also, don’t just limit it to job seekers. Make sure we’re also highlighting our businesses, so if you’re serving businesses.
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Um, use those businesses as a success story. So if, you know, you had a specific business that needed 10 welders, and you were able to place 10 welders there, uh, to help that business fill their talent pipeline, make sure you’re highlighting those stories as well.
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Um, utilizing social media, radio, um, magazines, any news outlets that we can use.
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Make sure that you’re doing that as well. And anything that you do, um, please share it with us. Please share it with Nodle, because we would be happy to repost it, um, to our social media pages, because again, um, our goal is to let the community know, but, you know, let the country know all of the great work that Workforce Development is doing. So make sure, um, as you’re sharing those success stories, make sure that you share it with NADA.
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As well. And also, you can think about highlighting a specific program. So, if you have a program, um, that has been innovative, um, that has.
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You know, kind of outside of the norm. And that may be something you want to highlight. Um, if you’re looking to recruit for a new program, that may be a program that you want to highlight.
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Um, take pictures anytime you can, pictures, they always say pictures worth a thousand words, which is absolutely true.
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So, you know, as we’re writing these articles, make sure we’re taking pictures and put those pictures up there with those success stories as well.
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All right, some additional strategies to make some noise. Know your numbers. Know your numbers. What can be quantified?
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So, a lot of times, um, so I work as a career advisor for 15 years of my career, and a lot of, you know, times I would help people going on interviews or writing resumes.
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And one thing I would always say was when we’re doing resumes, anything that you can quantify or put a number beside it, let’s figure out what that number is. So, you know, if you… if you’ve served a certain number of customers.
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Um, put that number into your elevator speech or onto a pamphlet, so let people know exactly what you’re doing. So we can say, you know what, I’m serving job seekers, or our organization does a great job of serving job seekers.
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But if you can put a number behind, if you can quantify it, really let people see that, so that number, um, helps to tell your story. So those success stories do, but also those numbers. So, what can you quantify.
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Um, can you put a… can you put it on a fact sheet? I’m gonna show you an example in a moment, but… Take those numbers and put it in one place, so people can actually see the impact that you are making.
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And also, so you can see the impact you’re making. So, you know, sometimes, you know, we serve people, serve people, serve people, until we get to the end of the year and look at that performance, we’re like, oh, wow, I didn’t know we served, you know, 800 truck drivers, or 200 educators.
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Um, so really putting those numbers together, uh, tells a story as well. So, pull those numbers together, create a fact sheet.
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Um, also host a job fair. This may be your opportunity to host a job fair or a resource fair, and I know we do those all throughout the year, but we can highlight this one, um, if you do it in the month of September as Workforce Development Month. So, you know, we’re doing this job fair, and, you know.
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In the backdrop, it’s Workforce Development Month. These are all the other great things that workforce development professionals do.
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So, even though we’re doing that throughout the year, September may be a great year to, um, I’m sorry, a great month to host a job fair or resource fair.
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I talked about this a little bit earlier, but as we’re highlighting our success stories.
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Make sure that we are also including our businesses in that, so if there has been a business partner that you’ve had that’s just been a great partner, um, make sure you highlight those businesses. And, you know, sometimes other businesses.
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We’ll see what the… what the, uh, this business is doing, and they may want to connect you through that as well, so… Um, highlight not only the customers that we’re serving, but also those businesses that we’re serving.
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And we’re in the technology age, and we have the access and the capability to host online events, so everything doesn’t have to be in person. You may have some things in person.
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But there are a lot of things that we can do online to really capture those people who may not be able to come into our centers.
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So, um, some things you may want to think about are workforce Wednesdays, and you can do anything on these events, right? So you can maybe do a success story one week.
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One week, he maybe can highlight a program, maybe one week you’ll highlight a job seeker, maybe one week you’ll highlight a business.
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Um, maybe one week you’re… you’ll show the numbers, uh, and quantify what you’ve done as an organization, but you can do a Workforce Wednesdays to where you do it every month during, uh, Workforce Development Month.
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Uh, you can do a lunch and learn, where, you know, maybe one day out of the week, you do a lunch and learn from 12 to 12.30, where people join you.
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Um, from throughout your community, and you talk about different things, uh, going on in your organization.
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If you don’t want to wait some lunch, if you want to do it early in the morning, you can do coffee and conversations.
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Uh, coffee and conversation is doing workforce development month. So these, again, are themes, um, that are consistent throughout the month. So, you know.
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We know every Monday morning, uh, well, Monday might not be a great time, but let’s say every Tuesday morning at 8 o’clock, we’re gonna do coffee and conversations. Now, all of a sudden, people are expanding that. Now the only thing they’re looking for is.
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What’s the tactic gonna be about, you know, this Tuesday? Um, so think about that, uh, think about sharing information that’s going on in your area, and also sharing programs.
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With job seekers and partners. All right, so I’m just gonna take a breath here. I’m gonna just look through the comments to see.
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I see a couple of people say they host an annual convening for, uh, summer employment partners.
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Um, we hosted a seminar on justice-involved job seekers and second chance employers. I see that, uh, Dr. Ramona.
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Um, I actually just read on LinkedIn, I saw a colleague who did a job fair in the prison system, so people who are about to be released.
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Uh, he organized a job fair that actually took the businesses into the prison system, and they did the job fair there, so I thought that was an innovative job fair as well.
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All right, so City of Phoenix, rebranded by creating new program-specific flyers. Great, these are all great.
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So, um, make sure you go ahead and read through the comments, and again, we’re gonna go into breakout rooms, because I do want to be able to give you the chance to share with your colleagues as well, and then we’ll come back out and be able to share.
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Okay, I want to just show you a couple of things that, um, I had done in the past, and this was before I worked at Nautuck.
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Um, and this was actually during the pandemic, and this young lady went through a… our WIOA program. She became a nurse.
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And she… she got her first job, actually, on the COVID unit.
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Um, but we did what we… during the, um, well, we did this in April, but we did what we call Thank You Thursdays, is what we called it. Thank You Thursdays.
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And what we did a Thank You Thursdays is we highlighted our essential workers. So, if you recall during the pandemic, um, you know, your nurses, your truck drivers, retail, though, you know, we… those were considered essential workers, uh, during that time period. So, every Thursday on Thank You Thursdays.
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We will highlight, um, somebody who went through our program. This happened… her name is Pam.
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And we highlighted Pam, um, on Thank You Thursdays, and this wasn’t… This was not the post that we did. She re-copied the post, and then, uh, she just…
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Sent kind of a thank you back to us, but this post kind of… I’m not gonna say it went viral, because, you know, when we think viral, we think of millions.
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But for us, it was, like, several thousand people, um, actually saw this post.
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So, to us, it went viral with several thousand people, but then people started reaching out to us.
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And that’s, you know, one of the ways that we kind of let our community know that we were there. And it was kind of… it wasn’t necessarily us who did it, because we did put it on social media, but it was Pam.
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Who shared it to her social media page. So, a lot of times, our best advocates, as much as we try to advocate, um, and, you know, we talk about things at the federal, local, and state level, but a lot of times our best advocates are going to be those people.
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Who were affected by our program. So find those people, and make sure you’re sharing their stories.
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Um, this is the pamphlet. When we talked a little bit about quantifying, I am from Georgia, you all, so this is one… this is actually a pamphlet that we used back in 2020, and I… I just wanted to share it because it was very impactful.
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So, when we talked about quantifying, we wanted to put all of our numbers in one place.
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Um, and so, if you can picture a booklet, it was just… I mean, it was just a trial… not a trifold, but I guess a bifold.
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Just folded in half, so, um, we had the front part, and then on the back of it was the success story. So this was the back of it. So we did have our success stories, but we also had, again, quantifying.
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The exact number of people that we served, and then we have the amount of money that we spent on, um, each program.
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We have what our performance was, so you would know, um, how many people entered in employment, how many people were still employed. We had all this in one place.
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And the particular area that I was in, we served 12 counties.
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So, we broke it down also by county, so when local elected officials would get this document, they would see exactly how many people were served in their county.
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And it wasn’t just job seekers that we use, we also used employers, so you saw how many job seekers received training, but also how many employers.
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Was affected by this training because they received… or because people went to work at those particular organizations.
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So when we can say, when we can quantify, we serve 773 people, and we serve 155 employers.
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So this is a good thing to think about as we’re looking at workforce development month, really gathering that data and putting that data into a readable form that’s really going to mean something to somebody who’s reading that.
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So I’ll be happy to share this with you. I’m actually going to, um, follow up on an email with all of this information, so you can kind of use this as a template if this is something that you’re interested in.
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Um, then in addition to that, NautUp has, um, two toolkits, and I see, uh, my colleague Alexis is on, so Alexis, if you don’t mind, can you drop that in the chat box for me?
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Either Alexis or David. Um, so on our NADA website, we have a workforce development month toolkit.
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And so, it’ll kind of go through what we went through here, but it gives you, like, step-by-step on some things that you can enact during workforce development month.
00:22:27.000 –> 00:22:37.000
Um, and then in addition to that, we have an advocacy toolkit. So, we will put those two things in the chat for you. The advocacy toolkit really talks about.
00:22:37.000 –> 00:22:46.000
How to, um, advocate, not only at the federal level, but, you know, more importantly, at the local level.
00:22:46.000 –> 00:22:50.000
Um, and we’re talking about this a little bit earlier, and I do want to.
00:22:50.000 –> 00:22:58.000
Stress this, and my colleague David brought this up on a webinar we were on together last week, but a lot of times when we think about advocacy.
00:22:58.000 –> 00:23:06.000
Uh, we think about advocacy at the federal level, right? So, you know, advocating your senators and your House of Representatives, and that is very important.
00:23:06.000 –> 00:23:19.000
But also, advocating at the local level is just as important. So, um, let’s make sure that we’re also advocating at our local level, so that whether that’s, um, our city council meetings.
00:23:19.000 –> 00:23:32.000
Um, whether that’s getting to know people on staff, um, make sure if you’re doing, like, a graduation, or if there’s something that’s going on in your organization, make sure your local elected officials are on your invite list.
00:23:32.000 –> 00:23:47.000
Um, and even if they can’t come, invite somebody from their staff. So, get to know people in the, in the, um, on the staff of your elected officials and your federal officials, so even if… if they can’t come, have somebody from their staff who can come.
00:23:47.000 –> 00:23:54.000
Who can really kind of take in what’s going on in your organization, and they can take it back to their elected officials?
00:23:54.000 –> 00:24:08.000
Um, also, if you have a board, involve your board members. So that’s a part of being on a board, is to really advocate for the services and the organization, so make sure you’re involving your board members.
00:24:08.000 –> 00:24:14.000
As well as your local press. So again, now the past two, um, toolkits that are on our website.
00:24:14.000 –> 00:24:22.000
And we will… if it’s not in the chat box, we’ll be sure to send that to you via email.
00:24:22.000 –> 00:24:33.000
All right. And so, we can’t celebrate workforce development month without talking about the Workforce Development Professionals, you all, um, which is who Nada is here to serve.
00:24:33.000 –> 00:24:40.000
And again, that goes back to our Connect, Advance, Innovate, our three pillars, but… Um, as we’re thinking about.
00:24:40.000 –> 00:24:47.000
Celebrating Workforce Development Month and the things that we’re doing within an organization. I also want you to put yourself on that list.
00:24:47.000 –> 00:24:57.000
Um, make sure the Workforce Development Month that you’re also thinking about, um, number one, what are some professional development opportunities for you? What goals do you have?
00:24:57.000 –> 00:25:06.000
Um, how do you want to kind of increase your skills, or update your skills when it comes to serving your customers?
00:25:06.000 –> 00:25:16.000
Um, Nautov does have the CWDP, Certified Workforce Development Professional Credential, and again, like I said, if you’re not a member of NADL, this is definitely a community.
00:25:16.000 –> 00:25:21.000
Community of like-minded individuals, so we would love for you to be a part.
00:25:21.000 –> 00:25:29.000
I always say, too, it’s very important to me, but I think it’s, um, you know, I always try to mention this, is to make sure we’re practicing self-care.
00:25:29.000 –> 00:25:36.000
Um, workforce development is really a service industry. I say that everywhere I go. It is all about service.
00:25:36.000 –> 00:25:44.000
And a lot of times when you’re in the service industry, you are serving everybody else, and then we kind of put ourselves on the back burner sometimes.
00:25:44.000 –> 00:25:50.000
So, during Workforce Development Month, make sure you celebrate your wins, um, make sure you practice self-care.
00:25:50.000 –> 00:26:04.000
And make sure that you’re setting goals for yourself, in addition to your organization, but, you know, setting personal goals for yourself as well, because we wouldn’t have workforce development month if we didn’t have amazing workforce development professionals.
00:26:04.000 –> 00:26:16.000
And I want to talk to you a little bit about how NADL is celebrating, uh, workforce development month, so during the month of September, you will see, number one, you’ll see this logo. So, we have our Workforce Development Month.
00:26:16.000 –> 00:26:22.000
Logo, I’ll send this to you all. Feel free to use it on, um, anything that you’re doing.
00:26:22.000 –> 00:26:27.000
With Workforce Development Month, you can use this logo if you would like.
00:26:27.000 –> 00:26:35.000
Um, and then we’re also using the hashtag WKDEVMonth. So, this is going to be the hashtag that we use.
00:26:35.000 –> 00:26:41.000
So if you’re doing anything with workforce development month, if you use that hashtag, we can kind of aggregate all of those stories.
00:26:41.000 –> 00:26:53.000
Uh, together, and just, you know, celebrate together. We’re gonna make a lot of noise. So, again, you’ll get this logo, and feel free to use it on, um, any material that you develop during Workforce Development Month.
00:26:53.000 –> 00:27:00.000
Um, also during workforce development month, NAW will be honoring what we call Workforce Heroes.
00:27:00.000 –> 00:27:11.000
And so you’ll start seeing those Workforce Heroes being honored during the month of September. Uh, so these are workforce development professionals who have been nominated by their peers and their colleagues to just.
00:27:11.000 –> 00:27:23.000
You know, receive recognition for going above and beyond the call, um, and so we’ll be honoring them during the month of September, so be on the lookout for that. Stay connected with us on social media and our website.
00:27:23.000 –> 00:27:29.000
Um, NARDOP will also have two new toolkits, um, that will be available during workforce development month.
00:27:29.000 –> 00:27:41.000
One is for new workforce development professionals, and then one is going to be for developing and finding a career pathway in the field of workforce development.
00:27:41.000 –> 00:27:47.000
Um, we’ll also be highlighting youth success stories. So, if you have a youth.
00:27:47.000 –> 00:27:58.000
Success story that you would like to share with us? Please feel free to email me that. We would love to highlight, um, your youth stories or anything that’s going on in your organization.
00:27:58.000 –> 00:28:07.000
Specifically toward youth. And then also, um, we love to highlight best practices, so we do that through our 30 Minutes of Excellence sessions.
00:28:07.000 –> 00:28:15.000
That we do, um, monthly. Um, so if you would like to be a part of that, you can definitely reach out to me, uh, for that as well.
00:28:15.000 –> 00:28:23.000
Um, we’ll also do another day of learning, and all this is… can be found on our website. We’ll do a Nautabdale learning during the month of September.
00:28:23.000 –> 00:28:31.000
Um, we have a summer learning series going on, and our fourth session is going to be in the month of September, and it’s really highlighting management.
00:28:31.000 –> 00:28:41.000
And, uh, management practices, how to be an effective manager. We also have a leadership leadership academy, uh, for directors and executive directors, and those.
00:28:41.000 –> 00:28:50.000
Leading organizations, we have that. Uh, our next cohort will start next year, but we’ll begin taking applications in October.
00:28:50.000 –> 00:29:00.000
And then, we have a new professionals cohort, so… We’re… we’re meeting everybody where they’re at, so whether you’re a new professional, or if you, um, are a leader of an organization.
00:29:00.000 –> 00:29:09.000
Nada definitely has something for you, and those are just some of the things that we’ll be highlighting during workforce development month.
00:29:09.000 –> 00:29:15.000
All right, so I know I have said a mouthful, so I’m gonna stop sharing my screen.
00:29:15.000 –> 00:29:24.000
Because one of the things that I want to do is to be able to, um, put us all, or put you in breakout rooms so that you’re able to connect with your colleagues.
00:29:24.000 –> 00:29:30.000
And kind of talk through some of the things that you are doing in workforce development month for Workforce Development Month.
00:29:30.000 –> 00:29:37.000
So, um, I’m gonna put you in… in breakout rooms, so feel free to go in your breakout room.
00:29:37.000 –> 00:29:45.000
Um, if you want to go ahead and turn your camera on, that would be great. If you want to, if not, that’s fine, but if you want to turn your camera on so you can have the conversations.
00:29:45.000 –> 00:29:56.000
In your breakout rooms. Uh, hello, Ramona, I see you. Hi, Bobby! David! Hi, Tara, Melissa.
00:29:56.000 –> 00:30:09.000
All right, so I’m gonna teach you breakout rooms. So, I know I have said a mouthful, um, but I do want to give you at least about 15 minutes to go in your breakout room. I know I’ve given you a lot of information. Again, I’m going to send all this out to you.
00:30:09.000 –> 00:30:19.000
So, you’ll kind of, you know, have the PowerPoint and the resources, but I want you to talk to your colleagues about, um, number one, why Workforce Development Month is professional.
00:30:19.000 –> 00:30:33.000
And or, uh, talk about some of the things that you and your organization have done for workforce development month, or planning on doing this year for Workforce Development Month. So, I’ll let you stay in the breakout room for about.
00:30:33.000 –> 00:30:43.000
10 to 12 minutes. Um, then we’ll come back out, and we’ll share as a group before we finalize our time. So, you should see popping up on your screen here in just one moment.
00:30:43.000 –> 00:30:49.000
Um, to join a breakout room, so you can click join.
00:30:49.000 –> 00:31:19.000
Just introduce yourself to your, uh… to your peers, and just talk about what you’re going to be doing during workforce development month. I will see you all in about 10 to 12 minutes.
00:32:09.000 –> 00:32:29.000
Hey, Kiana, can you hear me?
00:32:29.000 –> 00:32:32.000
Oh, you’re on mute.
00:32:32.000 –> 00:32:38.000
Sorry, I was gonna say thank you for putting the… talking on there. I thought I had it saved, but I didn’t.
00:32:38.000 –> 00:32:44.000
Oh, no problem, no problem. I am in the carpool line, but I just wanted to join and.
00:32:44.000 –> 00:32:46.000
Listen in. Yes, ma’am.
00:32:46.000 –> 00:32:52.000
Okay, thank you! Oh, I didn’t know that! I just saw your name pop up. I was like, oh, I wonder if she can put it in there.
00:32:52.000 –> 00:32:54.000
Yeah, oh yeah, it was no problem. But thank you so much, that was good.
00:32:54.000 –> 00:32:59.000
Um, okay.
00:32:59.000 –> 00:33:03.000
It does a lot of good ideas, it sounds like people are doing a lot.
00:33:03.000 –> 00:33:14.000
Yeah, and you know, uh, so yeah, that was my thing as I was… thinking through it, I was like, okay, how can… so the thing that just kept coming in my head was make some noise, like, how can we make noise?
00:33:14.000 –> 00:33:15.000
You know, let it be a whole thing for the whole month. If everybody is talking about workforce development.
00:33:15.000 –> 00:33:20.000
Right.
00:33:20.000 –> 00:33:21.000
Oh, yeah, I like that. Let’s make some noise.
00:33:21.000 –> 00:33:40.000
At the same time. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I was like, we’re gonna change our whole logo and everything. Amanda gonna be like, um, this was not on the list.
00:33:43.000 –> 00:33:48.000
Right, so… Um, I hope y’all had a…
00:33:48.000 –> 00:34:04.000
Productive breakout room. I know, again, when you get workforce development professionals together, the energy can be… first of all, it can be very stirring. So I know a lot of times people are like, you know what, I’m not ready to come out of the breakout room yet, but then, you know, we have to make sure.
00:34:04.000 –> 00:34:09.000
We stay cognizant of time, so I do want to just, uh, let anyone.
00:34:09.000 –> 00:34:22.000
Who would like to share what they are doing for Workforce Development Month, or maybe what your conversation was in the breakout room, we would love to hear from you. I’m going to stop sharing my screen so we can see each other.
00:34:22.000 –> 00:34:29.000
All right, so if anybody wants to come off mute, and if you want to give us some ideas on, um, some things that your group talked about.
00:34:29.000 –> 00:34:40.000
Of things that you are doing to celebrate workforce development Month.
00:34:40.000 –> 00:34:49.000
Hey, uh, this is Efren. I’m in Texas. I’m gonna give a shout-out here to my Chicago friend that I got introduced to today. She deals with a lot of the youth.
00:34:49.000 –> 00:35:02.000
Uh, we talked a lot about helping individuals at, uh. Have a background, so she gave me some ideas on how she was able to help them out. They do have a lot of resources. I did ask if there’s a lot of people that.
00:35:02.000 –> 00:35:12.000
Employers that, uh, are being a little bit more receptive to giving these people an opportunity for employment. She’s just an all-star up there in Chicago right now, so I’m just giving her all prompts right now.
00:35:12.000 –> 00:35:16.000
Um, and I was asking because that’s something that we’re trying to do down here in Texas.
00:35:16.000 –> 00:35:28.000
To help that population out. I know that, like I said in the breakout room, one little mistake shouldn’t destroy the rest of their lives, so… That is pretty much what we’re looking at there.
00:35:28.000 –> 00:35:37.000
Awesome, thank you, Ephraim. Thank you for sharing that, and if anybody has any resources that you want to email to me to share with the group, I’d be happy to do so.
00:35:37.000 –> 00:35:46.000
Um, and so your Chicago friend, what… Uh, do you want to introduce yourself, Chicago Friend, or put your name in the chat box?
00:35:46.000 –> 00:35:48.000
I don’t mind.
00:35:48.000 –> 00:35:50.000
Oh, okay.
00:35:50.000 –> 00:35:51.000
She doesn’t mind one bit.
00:35:51.000 –> 00:35:59.000
I know, I know, I’m do. I’m very much extroverted. You have to be a little bit in this field, so…
00:35:59.000 –> 00:36:00.000
Oh, boy. Yes.
00:36:00.000 –> 00:36:05.000
But do know COVID was hard for me, okay? I was… COVID was hard for me, okay?
00:36:05.000 –> 00:36:12.000
Um, but yes, um… Like, he said, I, uh, my name is Ashley Thorne.
00:36:12.000 –> 00:36:22.000
I do workforce development here at OAI in Chicago. Um, we… which formally stands for Opportunities, Advancement, and Innovation.
00:36:22.000 –> 00:36:27.000
But now they want to be fancy and just be abbreviated, so we go by OAI.
00:36:27.000 –> 00:36:32.000
Um, we have been around for over 30 years, and we provide, um.
00:36:32.000 –> 00:36:37.000
Skills training for people who are 18 years or older. We don’t have an age cap.
00:36:37.000 –> 00:36:51.000
As long as you are physically able to do the work, um, and we… We pretty much train people in… clean energy, um, and workforce development, clean energy, solar.
00:36:51.000 –> 00:36:58.000
Electric vehicle training, forklift, hazardous waste management, pretty much. You get, like… and it’s a paid training.
00:36:58.000 –> 00:37:05.000
So we pay you, you get skills, we, uh, pay for you, uh, gas cards, bus cards.
00:37:05.000 –> 00:37:12.000
Interview clothing, all things, and then we help you get a job, because the whole point is so people can get gainfully employed.
00:37:12.000 –> 00:37:16.000
When they done. And so, you don’t program hop. I did talk about people who like the program hop in the workforce development field go from program to program.
00:37:16.000 –> 00:37:21.000
Ah…
00:37:21.000 –> 00:37:26.000
But ours is to make you, you know. Go to your next stage.
00:37:26.000 –> 00:37:27.000
Brilliant. No problem.
00:37:27.000 –> 00:37:37.000
Love it. Thank you for sharing, Ashley! Thank you for sharing. If you have anything, um, any resources that I can share with the group, feel free to email that to me. I’ll get that sent out to everybody.
00:37:37.000 –> 00:37:38.000
All right.
00:37:38.000 –> 00:37:47.000
The best thing I can say is, when working with. People with backgrounds and returning citizens, U.S. Probations are the probation officers.
00:37:47.000 –> 00:37:53.000
And they have offices in every state. So, link up with them. If you’re always trying to, like, recruit for people.
00:37:53.000 –> 00:37:59.000
And you take returning citizens, link up with U.S. Probations, because they’ll send you people.
00:37:59.000 –> 00:38:10.000
Awesome. Great information. Thank you, Ashley. All right, anybody else want to share what, uh, any ideas or anything that you’re doing to celebrate?
00:38:10.000 –> 00:38:18.000
Recognize Workforce Development Month.
00:38:18.000 –> 00:38:39.000
First of all, I wanted to give Ashley her flowers. I’m with the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership, so… Uh, so I just seen a post on LinkedIn where they had a graduating class, so I just wanted to give OAI and Ashley their flowers of…
00:38:39.000 –> 00:38:43.000
You know, doing great work.
00:38:43.000 –> 00:38:46.000
Thank you. We got another graduation next week!
00:38:46.000 –> 00:38:52.000
Okay, I probably won’t be there, but someone will, your PRM will.
00:38:52.000 –> 00:39:00.000
Awesome. And I do want to just put a plug in for my personal benefit. If we’re not… if I’m not…
00:39:00.000 –> 00:39:08.000
Connected with you on LinkedIn, please find me. And my name is Kim Meadows, CWDP. Please find me and connect with me, because I love.
00:39:08.000 –> 00:39:17.000
Um, seeing all the… all the things that’s happening during workforce development month and throughout the year, and if we’re connected on LinkedIn, then I get to see all those things, too.
00:39:17.000 –> 00:39:23.000
So, um, please find me on LinkedIn if we’re not already connected.
00:39:23.000 –> 00:39:32.000
Let me do one more shameless plug here. Um, I, uh, had the pleasure of presenting at NOTUP in Virginia Beach.
00:39:32.000 –> 00:39:38.000
Uh, this past summer. Um, if you are an introvert, that’ll definitely get you into an extrovert status pretty quick.
00:39:38.000 –> 00:39:43.000
Uh, because people come in and hear, and they want to hear your ideas that you have out there.
00:39:43.000 –> 00:39:48.000
Uh, to this day, going into the fall, I am still talking about the program that we talked about at NADA.
00:39:48.000 –> 00:39:54.000
And how it’s been growing down here in Tarrant County here in Texas. So, uh, thank you, Nada, for giving us the opportunity.
00:39:54.000 –> 00:39:58.000
To present our project, uh, nationwide. Thank you.
00:39:58.000 –> 00:40:09.000
Awesome, A5? And one of the things that you’ll know about me really quickly is that I do not mind reaching out if you tell me you have a great program. I do not mind reaching out and asking you to.
00:40:09.000 –> 00:40:15.000
Present or share best practices, because, you know, that’s really what it’s all about. When we say connecting.
00:40:15.000 –> 00:40:22.000
Um, really connecting so that other people can see the best practices and things that are going on in your area that they can replicate.
00:40:22.000 –> 00:40:29.000
So, yeah. So, Efran, I may be reaching out to you again.
00:40:29.000 –> 00:40:30.000
Go ahead, Michelle. Yes?
00:40:30.000 –> 00:40:36.000
Uh, Kim? Uh… one of the young ladies in our group, I believe her name is Vanessa.
00:40:36.000 –> 00:40:42.000
I just want to, um, amplify her message about what they’re doing in their area around.
00:40:42.000 –> 00:40:50.000
Um, job fairs for career fairs for their participants, but. It’s the tables are turned.
00:40:50.000 –> 00:41:00.000
Where the job seekers are actually interviewing the employers, and asking the employers questions that are geared more towards, why should I work here? Like, why is this a great place to work?
00:41:00.000 –> 00:41:10.000
Why is the position vacant? Those types of questions. And another individual in the group, uh, spoke about calling the Meet the Employer events.
00:41:10.000 –> 00:41:11.000
So they can see what it’s like to screen employers before actually.
00:41:11.000 –> 00:41:14.000
Hmm…
00:41:14.000 –> 00:41:19.000
Deciding to even apply or interview. So, I thought those were pretty cool to turn the tables.
00:41:19.000 –> 00:41:28.000
Oh, yeah! Those are… I think I’ve heard… I’ve definitely heard of those, and I think I may have heard them referred to as reverse job fairs.
00:41:28.000 –> 00:41:33.000
Um, but yeah, what an awesome idea. Thank you for sharing that, Michelle.
00:41:33.000 –> 00:41:36.000
Thanks, Vanessa.
00:41:36.000 –> 00:41:39.000
Thank you for sharing that, Vanessa.
00:41:39.000 –> 00:41:43.000
Yeah, you’re welcome. Uh, we will notice it here, like, uh.
00:41:43.000 –> 00:41:51.000
It’s important, like, also… We know that the companies are looking for people, right? Um, and, um…
00:41:51.000 –> 00:42:00.000
There is always this kind of thing that, um… You need to fight against another applicant, right? To have the position.
00:42:00.000 –> 00:42:27.000
But now that it’s the opposite, there is a lot of companies looking for people, right? It’s a perfect opportunity to have… to give them the opportunity to ask questions to the company. What is it I should be going for you, and what is the thing that you are offering me? So, it’s been pretty interesting just to hear all the… the interaction that they have, and the other thing that we put together is… is a virtual event.
00:42:27.000 –> 00:42:39.000
Because we know that the companies and the applicants, sometimes it’s hard when you put together, like, a job fair. Like, it needs to be in certain time, in certain locations, and sometimes it’s hard.
00:42:39.000 –> 00:43:00.000
Well, we know, as a workforce development, that there is a lot of barriers in transportation for most of the communities of the people that we serve, especially for my program. So, um… they don’t… sometimes they don’t have the money to go, or even the transportation to go and attend a job fair. So, with the virtual.
00:43:00.000 –> 00:43:09.000
Option, they can join in using even the cell phone. They don’t even have to create an account. In the email, they are going to receive the link.
00:43:09.000 –> 00:43:30.000
Assume link in the email, and they are going to be able to, um… To join to the meeting, and the companies, they are going to be there, and they are going to be answering all the questions and providing them with the information about how to apply to the jobs that they have. Even the companies.
00:43:30.000 –> 00:43:31.000
Mm-hmm.
00:43:31.000 –> 00:43:37.000
Nowadays, they are being doing the QR code. So in that way, the applicants can go directly to the application, they don’t have to do anything else, and they can just do a click or a screenshot.
00:43:37.000 –> 00:43:44.000
And they can say that, and then later, uh, go directly to the website or to the application for the company.
00:43:44.000 –> 00:43:59.000
So, it’s been pretty successful, um, in being virtual. He’s been just been amazing, because now we can serve… we are located here in Wisconsin, and we are being helping people that is all the way to the north of the state.
00:43:59.000 –> 00:44:13.000
So, it’s been amazing, it’s been amazing. I think that it’s a good idea. If you have any more questions in regards of this, um… event, you can, uh, let me know, and I’m going to be more than glad to share more information in regards of this.
00:44:13.000 –> 00:44:16.000
Virtual offers that we have.
00:44:16.000 –> 00:44:24.000
Thank you so much, Vanessa! Vanessa, if you don’t mind, could you put your contact information in the chat box in case people, um, have…
00:44:24.000 –> 00:44:27.000
Additional information or additional questions? Thank you so much!
00:44:27.000 –> 00:44:33.000
Sure.
00:44:33.000 –> 00:44:42.000
All right, so again, thank you all. Thank you for joining me for this, uh, past hour, just, you know, to talk about workforce development month.
00:44:42.000 –> 00:44:48.000
Kind of getting those ideas rolling, and to be proactive about how we are going to make some noise.
00:44:48.000 –> 00:45:13.000
Uh, for workforce development during the month of September. Um, so again, if you’re not connected with me on LinkedIn, please connect with me so I can follow all the wonderful work that you’re doing. Um, also, I’ll be sending out the toolkits, I’ll send out this logo that we have here, and then I’ll also, um, send a recording of what we’ve done here today, so you’ll have that as well, and it’ll be on our Nautilum YouTube channel.
00:45:13.000 –> 00:45:20.000
Um, so I wanted to say to you all, I know it’s still August, but happy… well, first of all, happy Tuesday, have a great rest of your week.
00:45:20.000 –> 00:45:35.000
But also, happy workforce development month. I look forward to celebrating, um, all the wonderful work we’re doing as an industry. Look forward to celebrating with you for the entire month. If you have any questions, or you want to reach out to me, if there’s any way I can support you.
00:45:35.000 –> 00:45:41.000
Um, please feel free to reach out to me. My email address is there, kim at nautup.org.
00:45:41.000 –> 00:45:52.000
Um, or any of my other colleagues, I have my colleague David on. He’s David at nodup.org, our Director of Membership, Alexis at nauto.org. So it’s just our first names at NADA.
00:45:52.000 –> 00:46:00.000
Uh, we look forward to seeing you all very soon. Connect with us on LinkedIn, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.
