I like to think that every week this column is important, but perhaps it is even more relevant this week. Who doesn’t need a few employees? Well, this column will tell you about a tangible way we are working to help solve this.
Through our new Chamber Works 2030 workforce program we have developed some stronger relationships with many community partners, and a few of those partners reached out with a new project. Essentially, three of our local school districts want to let their students know what’s out there for summer employment and potentially afterschool employment in some cases. Rather than those three schools reaching out to businesses individually, they are working with our chamber to get a single submission from employers, that will then be forwarded to all three schools.
This was taken from an informational post going out later this week to the chamber membership about the Student Workforce Connection Job Board:
Hiring Teens This Summer?
Local high schools can help place motivated teens in your seasonal jobs. These seasonal jobs could turn into year-round afterschool or weekend employees if the right connection can be made.
Here’s what you need to know:
The Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber has partnered with Mt. Ararat’s Community Pathways Program, the Brunswick High School Community Engagement program, and the RSU 1 Superintendent’s Office representing Morse High School on this new initiative to get local students working for you. The idea is pretty simple. Rather than all three schools contacting you to get your available jobs for High School students, we’ll ask you to just send them once to the chamber and we’ll forward it along to each of the three schools. From there, the schools advertise positions to their students.
Here’s how it works:
– Send preferably a PDF document (we explain this below) or a word document to careers@midcoastmaine.com
– From there, the three schools will share it with students, and keep it in mind when talking to individual job seekers.
– One position per post is helpful so that we don’t get them confused (though a generic post for multiple roles is okay too- see the sample below)
Here are the things that are really helpful to have in a job ad for students:
– Job title
– Job duties (brief)
– Qualities or Traits you look for/ Other qualifications
– Wage or wage range
– Schedule (# min hours/max hours; days/times; start/end dates)
– Is transportation needed for the job?
– Youngest age you will hire?
– Contact Person/Next step towards hiring
Why a PDF?
Our schools might not have time to make all the job postings look colorful and a PDF is a chance for you to emphasize the jobs you have and the information you want to feature (such as a job title or rate of pay in larger font, for example). You can also add your logo to a PDF which is better than a text document. The schools will likely only have time to cut and paste what you sent so be sure you are presenting your information the best way, and that it stands out, by dropping it into a format that represents you best.
Sample Job Post:
Healthcare & Working with Seniors- Are you curious about careers in healthcare? Do you enjoy spending time with older adults? Coastal Landing in Brunswick is hiring for a variety of roles, including helping serve meals, housekeeping and maintenance. Flexible hours, starting pay $XX.XX/hr, free CRMA/PSS training & certification. Minimum age 14. To learn more and apply, contact Xxxx Xxxxxxxx (xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.com or 207-xxx-xxxx).
THIS IS ONLY A SAMPLE (I’ve deleted contact info from this sample)
This program is really easy to use. Just send us an e-mail. I would caution everyone to read their ads thoroughly before submitting as the schools won’t spend much time proofreading. Also, if you need to update a job post (say the rate of pay or hours change) then please state upfront in your email (or in the subject line) that this is replacing a previous post for the same position.
Finally, though we are helping coordinate this as the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber (BBRC), you don’t need to be a member business of the chamber to participate in this program. However, if you do end up hiring an employee or two through this program, we would hope that this would be another example of why supporting chamber membership at the cost of $1 or $2 per day is worthwhile.
Any business in our region, or within reasonable driving distance of this region, may submit. The jobs that get posted to the students is ultimately the decision of the coordinators in each district, but feel free to submit them as long as students qualify as eligible employees. The BBRC is looking to add a job board section to our new website which is rolling out later this year for all employees, but for now, please only use the careers@midcoastmaine.com e-mail address for high school student eligible employment.
If you have questions, or you’re part of another school district that supports students in our chamber’s 16 community region and would like to be added to this partner list, please contact me at the BBRC office (725-8797) or Cory@midcoastmaine.com
Two other quick updates on happenings over the next 7 days:
Our chamber golf tournament — the 10th Annual Hacker’s Ball — tees off at 9 a.m., Brunswick Golf Club, this Friday morning May 13. It’s a very relaxed and fun tournament. We have just a few team spots, individual player spots and hole sponsorships available, so if you want one of those contact me at the chamber with the information above.
Also, we have four seats open for our in-person 12 @ 12 Networking Lunch on Wednesday, May 18 from noon to 1:30 p.m. It’s simple, 12 people have lunch at 12 noon and share five minutes about their business. Contact the chamber to register.
Cory King is the executive director of the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber.
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