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Friday, April 18, 2008
Kudos: Mayor Mallory’s Job Fair
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
Photo courtesy of here.
Kudos to Mayor Mark Mallory for his youth job and opportunity fair yesterday at the Duke Energy Center. The event was well organized and it provided over two thousand youth the chance to link up with area employers at a one-stop shop. I think the job fair a great example of the kind of leadership one can exhibit through the position of Mayor, and I commend Mallory for the work he engaged to get employers to set up at the convention.
It seems to me that this 3rd fair has reached a kind of critical mass, and that more people are finding out as the job fair has established itself as a reliable yearly event. That is good, and the more our City’s youth know about and feel inspired to participate in an event like this, the more likely that people will find productive jobs which put them on track to improve not only themselves, but the City as a whole.
The fair was set up with several aisles, each featuring employers who had a nicely arranged display area. The border surrounding these aisles were filled with round tables, on which people could fill out applications for turning in right on the spot.
Even before the fair began, a large crowd stood in line, waiting to get inside. Several students wore school uniforms, and at least one school brought two bus loads of students as part of a school trip.
Here are my observations for making the event even better for the 4th fair next year.
1. The Mayor should organize with all high schools in Cincinnati. Perhaps it would be possible to start the event an hour earlier (at 1pm instead of 2pm), and schools could bus students down who wish to participate. It would be a great partnership between schools, government, and business.
2. Consider organizing jobs by age of employment. For example, I was under the impression that the jobs were for those 16 and older. But some jobs were for 14 year olds, some 15, and so forth. If the layout were organized differently, schools could target age groups and help them navigate.
3. The Mayor should develop a “universal application”? Motivated youth could fill out several copies ahead of time, and with less time spent filling out applications, more time could be spent interacting with more jobs, and maybe even conducting on the spot interviews.
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18 Apr 2008 at 08:48 am | #
Great idea to arrange the aisles by age of applicant. That avoids wasting everyone’s time.
I have to disagree on starting earlier, though. My 16 year old finished his after-school activities at 5:00 and I drove him straight there. Over half of the booths had already packed up and headed home. Having worked dozens of trade shows myself, I can tell you that 4 hours is all most people can stand.
3:00 to 7:00 would be perfect. Most kids get out of school at 3ish, so that would give the companies a packed house for the first wave. As the extracurriculars let out, you’d continue to see good attendence for the rest of the night.
The “Universal Application” has the seeds of a major improvement too. Don’t call it an application because most HR Departments have their own form which they insist on using. But an event-focused resume or lead sheet would allow students and companies to cut through the chit-chat and focus on establishing whether a connection is likely enough to schedule a follow-up interview. Many of the companies had sheets describing the positions’ duties, hours, pay, etc. but very few of the students had a resume or even knew when they were available to start, or what hours they could commit to working.
Here’s my half-baked suggestion for a contact sheet:
Applicant’s Name______________________________
Applicant’s School ___________________________
Appliant’s Age at end of this school year: (Circle one) 14 15 16 17 18+
Licensed driver? (Circle one) Yes No
Available to start work: ___/___/______
Weekday hours available: ___:___ AM to ___:___ PM or None
Weekend hours available: ___:___ AM to ___:___ PM or None
Relevant experience:__________________________
______________________________________________
The form should be perforated so the student can tear off the bottom half after meeting with the recruiter. Bottom half should say:
I met with: (Name) ___________________________
Application received?: (Circle One) Yes No
Application submitted?: (Circle One) Yes No
Call to: (Circle one) Discuss job Schedule an interview
Name:___________________
Phone:__________________
Date:___________________
Time:___________________
Notes:_____________________
___________________________
Many thanks to Mayor Mallory for this service to young people. It was a great event.
18 Apr 2008 at 10:12 am | #
.
Online application would be nice, prior to event, with each employer having access to the applicant base ?
A list of employers on the application site with links to their company site for educational insight which could serve the individuals with knowledge for first interview ?
Good buy-in Dean !
.
18 Apr 2008 at 02:44 pm | #
Mark, I was thinking of those things all applications might included: references, work experience, and so forth. So I’d add those to what you have above.
21 Apr 2008 at 09:06 am | #
Dear Dean of Cincinnati,
I enjoyed this entry about the Mayor’s Job Fair for youth. I must inform you that although it looks fair and dandy on the part of the Mayor’s office, this annual job fair is nothing new to the youth of Cincinnati. It would be worthy of praise had this been Mallory’s own idea, however all he has done with this event is placed the Mayor’s office behind it and branded it as “The Mayor’s Job Fair.”
I think it is wrong for us to engage others in this kind of conversation without first recognizing or at least acknowledging those organizations who have worked to improve the quality of life for many of Cincinnati’s youth. The original annual job fair was previously sponsored by the Citizens Committee on Youth, or CCY as it is normally referred to. Without going into detail, this organization spent many years tackling the issue of unemployment and finding jobs and on the job training for inner city youth. CCY had its share of troubles and for the sake of time I will not even begin to state my differences with the now defunct organization. Oh yes! CCY was trashed, stepped on and ultimately shut down due to a collaborative effort by the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati, Ross Love, The Mayor’s Office, Cincinnati City Council and a host of others who wanted to give complete control of youth outreach affairs to the Urban League. The city also yanked all of its financial support from the organization.
Mayor Mallory has done nothing significant or different since being in office. He is radically no different thank Luken, Qualls, Tillery ...
21 Apr 2008 at 08:05 pm | #
BRAVA, Mayor Mallory, (I’m clapping my hands). It’s always great to hear about yet ANOTHER youth job fair. When, pray tell, can we expect an ADULT job fair, here in the country’s 3rd poorest major city? It is so offensive every time Mayor Mallory pulls some feel-good PR stunt and stands back to admire his work. Employing kids is great, and it should be a priority, IF it is a luxury your city can afford. Every teenager in Cincinnati knows very well how to open a newspaper and go in apply at the firm of his or her interest. I honestly believe that it is time for our mayor to step up and show some real leadership in putting Cincinnati’s ADULT community back into decent longterm respectable employment. Kids don’t need to be supporting their parents. They need to be in school. Mayor Mallory needs to be supporting education, not premature employment and billion dollar jails. He needs to stop trying to take the focus away from the REAL state of this city, ESPECIALLY its black community. The poverty rates, home foreclosure rates, infant mortality rates, incarceration rates, they are all through the roof in this state and county, relative to the rest of the country, and it is in the black community that these rates are SKYROCKETING. Come on Mayor Mallory, we voted you in, WHEN are you going to look back in OUR direction?
23 Apr 2008 at 11:42 am | #
Dean!
Kudos for what?
I thank John West and AmericanZebra for saving me time buy stating my feelings for me.
What in the hell has Mallory been doing since being in office anyway? He is worse than Luken. The only thing these people do is serve the government administration instead of the people by passing laws to erode the rights and pocketbooks of the public.
Kudos my ass!