Saturday, September 24, 2011

Successful Career Day with Macon Early College Students

On Friday September 23, 2011 the Franklin Young Professionals put on a career fair for the Macon Early College students.  The fair was held in the lobby of Southwestern Community College.  We had about a dozen local businesses and organizations represented and even more individual career fields represented.  Businesses represented at the fair included Drake Software, Tektone, Macon Bank, Franklin Veterinary Hospital, Duotech Services, REACH, Wayah Insurance, Marty Kimsey Reality, Lamplighter Reality, Town of Franklin, Land Trust for the Little Tennessee, Macon County Schools, and Stay & Play in the Smokies.  FYP had a great turn out of participants and we completely filled the lower lobby area.  The booths were all wonderful and very professional.  There were a lot of hands on displays, visuals, and giveaways at each booth.  We were able to interact with the majority of the students that attend MEC. 
Our goal was to not only showcase our own careers and help promote local businesses, but to show the students that there are numerous opportunities right here in Macon county for successful careers.  We wanted to promote and encourage the students to continue on in their educational pursuits but to then consider returning back to Macon county.  Many of the students already had an idea of what their career goals were, but there were also quite a few that are still very open to different options.  We were able to give these students a closer look at a wide variety of different career fields and allowed them to ask questions and be challenged. 
We are looking forward to the many opportunities that are now available to us with the Macon Early College students following up with the career fair.  We were very excited about this chance to showcase our individual talents and to bring some perspective to these students.  Future career fairs with MEC and possibly other local schools are already in the works.  Feel free to contact FYP if you have any questions or suggestions.