Many local firms have summer internship programs to assist their organizations with seasonal workers. Others use these programs as a recruiting tool to "try out" potential employees.

It has long been known that internships lead to full-time jobs. In fact, some experts say that 50 % of interns get full-time offers. After many efforts to reach out to the local business community, we are beginning to identify some success stories. Novozymes Biologicals informed us that they hired two interns from the summer class of 2006 - one from Roanoke College and one from Virginia Tech.

Sure, it is only two, but multiply this by 100 firms doing this each year and over time you will see a lot more young professionals in the region. These will provide a critical mass and street cred among young adults at local colleges who may be seeking professional opps locally.

We must get more local firms to establish intern programs and make them offers upon graduation and therefore creating a pipeline for recruiting local talent. The local business community must tap into this unique resource of over 60,000 college students in the region by hiring them after graduation. This is an important piece to the labor shortage caused by retiring Baby Boomers over the next few years.

It starts with college summer interns.    

All local college students and student interns are invited to come to 202 Market - a new upscale restaurant and entertainment hub in downtown Roanoke - to mix and mingle with other young professionals in the region known as NewVaConnects on Thursday, June 21 at 5:35 p.m.

To view more about the event go to the Facebook Event that has been created. Invite and bring your friends.

A special thanks goes to McLeod and Co. and Woods Rogers for sponsoring the intern program.

On Friday, July 6 from 5:30 - 8:30 pm all local Young Professional Organizations (YPOs) will convene to the railside amphitheater in downtown Roanoke for First Fridays.

First Fridays is in its 20th year of providing social fundraisers for charities in the region. During its tenure the organizations has channeled over $1 million to local groups.

Started as a young professional networking event, First Friday’s demographics have changed throughout the years to an older audience. With this event on July 6, the YPOs in the region will try to re-establish the audience the group had originally targeted 20 years ago.

Valley Forward, NewVa Connects, Square Society, Contemporaries, Young @ Art, Roanoke Jaycees, and other alumni Greek organizations will be present. 

The Convertible Blondes, an 80s cover band, will be performing. Admission is $5. Drink tickets are $3. Come early and stay late.

As a middle man, I hear the pros and cons to each side of the recruiting equation. Employers say they cannot find talent and candidates say they cannot find jobs.

Certainly connections are not being made because of generational differences in communicating, but others are not being made because of beliefs and actions unique to the region. It is frustrating to see young people who want to stay and make a good effort, but ultimately move to larger regions where the job search appears to be much easier.

Below are two examples of recent graduates who left the region. Read their response.

"I accepted a position for a financial firm in Richmond. The companies I applied with in the NRV / Roanoke never responded to my resume or follow ups."  — M.C.

"About a month ago, I landed a job in Washington, D.C. and have since re-located. I must honestly say that it was very difficult for someone of my limited experience to find employment in Roanoke, as it has been for many friends of mine. I do plan on returning to the area at some point in the future should an opening arise…". M.R.

Are companies really doing all they can to employ younger talent and therefore, build a larger talent pool for future years when Boomers are no longer in the workforce?

Do recent college graduates actually have skill sets that local employers desire or is the college degree the new high school degree?

What can be done to take better advantage of the awesome talent the region is producing for OTHER REGION’s workforces and OTHER STATE’s workforce?

Please provide your feedback.

I hope wisely. Did you know that 80% of all jobs are never advertised and are uncovered through networking. Therefore, only 20% of job are advertised offline and online. Only 10% of people get jobs through online resources.

As a result, spend 80% of your time networking with other people by going to events, scheduling meetings, attending social functions, volunteering, etc. Spend only 10% of your time with online searches.

No doubt everyone’s time is limited. Make sure you are using it wisely.

Yesterday, the City of Roanoke, NCTC and the Roanoke Chamber hosted a free luncheon to educate young people on the top mistakes made when looking for a job.  Download 5_mistakes_made_052907.doc .

Representatives from Webmail.us, Shenandoah Life, Tech Squared and Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare served as panelists for the workshop.

Over 50 people attended, including 40 students from schools such as Virginia Western, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Radford, Roanoke, Mary Baldwin, Hollins, Ferrum. It was a well attended event and shows the vast number of students who are in the region for the summer and ultimately have interest in staying in the region.

The next event will be held on June 21 at Martin’s in downtown Roanoke.

A friend recently turned me on to BigSight.org. The site features the good things young people are doing in the communiuty. It features select people and categorizes all of them by geographical location (User content populates the site). BigSight.org also plans to open a job board for the "24-31" demograohic audience. Very interesting site and concept indeed. It is worth your time… 

The Promise of Roanoke is an initiative led by Virginia Tech, the City of Roanoke, and the Roanoke City school system to address some of the issues related to the K12 school system. About 125 people were contacted and asked to participate in a lengthy process using Suzanne Morse’s Smart Communities model. The workgroups are meeting and will continue to do for the next couple of months.

A wiki has been created chronicling the project. For more info about the wiki, email Tim.

Virginia Tech has released their updated list of current jobs available within their organizations. To view the file go to Download classified_employee_bulletin_060507.pdf

An outstanding FREE event will be held in Salem at the Civic Center on June 6 at 8 a.m. called "Create a Regional Presence…Expand Your Business Beyond Roanoke…" There will be breakout sessions for media advertising, search engine optimization, social media / blogs, and more. You must register.