Dr. Alan Abrahams in the Pamplin College of Business Department of Business Information Technology is leading a group of student in a business called The Online Business Guidebook to encourage other students to start their own business. The model creates a paper version of a handbook and an online edition that gathers start-up resources in one location and disseminates the booklet throughout local campuses. The revenues comes from advertisers. It is a worthy and much needed focus on college campuses to encourage more of its students to become more entrepreneurial like Cameron Johnson.  

Please share this site and business with any college student. Thanks.

Radford University held its second annual Entrepreneurial Summit today, and again, it was fantastic. Radford is commited to incorporating this important principle into its curriculum and we are beginning to see the results. SunTrust sponsored the elevator pitch competition and four student walked away with scholarship money and cash to forward their ideas. Two RU alum speakers talked about their experiences and both are willing to assist the summit in future years in both participation and funding. Chris Pund the RU student who started the idea last year and received support from RU was in attendance and should be commended for his vision. Creating more entrepreneurs among our recent graduates is a sure bet to enhancing the long-range economic vitality of our region - and Radford is leading the way.

We attended the Business Horizons Career Fair at Virginia Tech last Thursday with the NewVa Corridor Technology Council. We were one of about 17 local firms (170 total) recruiting business students at Virginia Tech. We spoke to about 25 students who were really interested in our organizations and region.

A couple of takeaways…

1. College students are interested in brand name companies. The NCTC is not a brand name company, but it represents 150+ member organizations. However, the student is not doing the research prior to the fair to see what is available in the region or with the NCTC.

2. Local companies cannot afford to participate in the fairs. Most local companies do not have dedicated recruiters who are trying to hire many positions. Most have one of two positions an the cost of the booth $500, coupled with one day away from the office to recruit college student who are not ready to work until 9 months later is just not a good use of time and resources for a smaller company. Therefore, this explains our presence at the fair recruiting on behalf of the smaller companies.  

3. Students with billable skills in majors such as engineering, accounting, IT, health care, architecture are going to have a much easier job finding employment locally than students with degrees offering limited billable skills (marketing, management, liberal arts, communication, political science). The reason is there is a surplus of people who have non-billable skills AND have experience. Recent graduates may think a better professional job exists in a larger metro, but often these jobs are masqueraded as such and with the higher cost of living and longer commute times over time that choice is not the best.

So how do we change it?

1.) We must educate students in innovative ways about the opportunities that exist.

2.) We must encourage local companies to recruit at local colleges.

3.) Business and government organizations must connect people and make introductions between the local business community and university community.

4.) Local companies must participate in and support programs and events designed to carry out the previous three points.

The NY Times wrote this article about how parents are following their kids to their college towns. Instead of buying the condo (over living in dorms or renting apartments), they are buying the house and are staying when they come to visit. It’s the second home.

Is this activity really preparing the next generation to be independent and self-leaders or is it just smart personal finance?

Of course this activity has been going on for quite some time in Blacksburg and it is one of the reasons so many want to be in a college town - the connection to youth, fresh beginnings each fall, optimism, creativity, etc.

There is just something positive and energizing about living near a college campus. This is why Roanoke must form more relationships with its neighbor college campuses.

And if you are interested, in buying that property in Blacskburg, then contact Jeremy Hart.

Kudos to the Mix One Six  located on Campbell Avenue in downtown Roanoke for providing a social opportunity for college students home for the summer or in Roanoke for summer internships. These types of outlets are vitally important to our region attracting and retaining young adults.

They recently had an evening dedicated solely for college students, which was part of a segment featured on WDBJ7 that negatively examined their business. We must remember they are providing a much wanted social outlet for the college-aged crowd. College nights occur each Thursday evening at the Mix One Six.

Yesterday, we showed how local employers are beginning to take notice of the YP movement. Today, we examine our final point, how local college students are taking notice of the region and its efforts to retain them.

Many years ago, when I worked as a career advisor at Virginia Tech, there were many companies trying to find ways to tap into the college - base for short-term, internship and full-time employment. We created a semester internship class matching students with local companies. In six semesters, we made about 200 of these connections. From that program, we knew this was just the tip of the iceberg. Since we started that program in 2001, we have seen more and more students wanting to stick around in the area.

Perhaps one rationale is Northern Virginia students come to the RNR for college and are removed for 4+ years from the congestion and realize they do not want to return to it. Also, since that time, you have seen more professional opportunities locate in places such as the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center. 

Back in 2006 when I first started speaking to student groups, I asked one graduating senior from Hampton Roads if she were gonna stick around and work in the region. Her response was surprising. She said she would not stay because of a lack of arts and theatre. Knowing Roanoke has a lot of those amenities for its size, I asked her if she had been to downtown Roanoke. Her response was, “yeah, I have been to downtown Roanoke, I have been to Valley View Mall.”

Of course, Valley View Mall is not downtown Roanoke and she did not know the difference. From that exchange, we knew we had to get more college students to experience downtown Roanoke. Therefore, we created Roanoke Want U!

We partnered with student groups, primarily at Virginia Tech, and gave them free tickets on the Smart Way Bus from Blacksburg to the Higher Ed Center. At the Higher Ed Center, we held an info session with relevant local companies matching the majors of the student groups. After the session, we gave them a guided walking tour of downtown Roanoke, a free meal at a popular late night attraction, and sometimes a gift to get them to return at a later time. We have repeated this about 15 times with at least 5 more on the books for this spring. And we have heard stories of the college students returning on their own time. 

A couple weeks ago, we partnered with a number of groups to create the Reverse Job Fair at Virginia Tech (which the students loved) and are planning some other exposures on all college campuses too.

But perhaps the most successful way we are connecting to college students was found in this unsolicited editorial by the Collegiate Times editorial board staff suggesting to the student body they should look to Roanoke upon graduation. We are not completely there yet, but there does seem to be a growing interest in our local college students to seek local employment opportunities upon graduation.

So where does this leave us? What is next? What work still needs to be done? Tomorrow, I will discuss some things we need to make happen to reach the tipping point - a point in time in which all our efforts are occurring naturally and the message of the RNR being a place for YPs is ingrained in the culture.