MANSFIELD — Students spent hours organizing, typing and practicing their presentations before Thursday morning. Not for a class project, but for a “reverse job fair.”
The Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development partnered with Richland County Ohio Means Jobs for the second-annual “EmployMEpalooza” held at the Mid Ohio Educational Service Center.
About 22 students from six area high schools set up their own booths and talked to employers about careers or summer work they’re interested in, ranging from mechanics to babysitting.
Crestview High School senior Starbella Cordrey said she is looking for trade work, specifically in the electrical field.
“I’ve applied to the IBEW electrical union, but I know a little bit of welding and construction work too,” Cordrey said.
She learned about EmployMEpalooza from her mom, who works as the media center specialist at Crestview High School. Cordrey said she visited the JA Inspire to Hire fair at the Richland County Fairgrounds in February.
“This setup made me more nervous than the JA career fair, but it was also nice to see some employers that I talked to there come here,” Cordrey said. “The IBEW people said they got my application and I got to tell them more about myself, which was great.”
Jake Zimmer, a Mansfield Senior High School junior, attended the fair looking for real estate work opportunities.
He said he hadn’t talked to any real estate employers in the first hour of the program, but plans to attend the fair again next year.
“I’m seeing different pathways I can go,” he said.
Gary Frankhouse and Josh Barnett from My Floors Kitchen & Bath Remodeling were looking for high school students to train and hire for home remodeling work.
“We have a Pioneer senior on our staff right now,” Barnett said. “We look for them out of high school because, especially for the kids who aren’t sure what they want to do, we can give them a job and a career.”
Frankhouse is the former executive and economic director of the Crawford Partnership, where he worked with workforce development leaders around Crawford, Richland and surrounding counties.
“I worked closely with Clint [Knight] when we were both in workforce development and we talked about doing this type of setup, which I think is awesome,” Frankhouse said. “It puts the students in the driver’s seat instead of us trying to convince them to work for us.”
Frankhouse said he appreciated the Chamber’s list of students who registered for the fair and the work they were looking for.
“I know some students signed up and couldn’t be here because of testing and things like that, but hopefully we get more schools on board with this in the future, because more important than testing is their careers,” he said.
Clint Knight, director of workforce development for the Richland Area Chamber of Commerce, said registration for EmployMEpalooza was free for students and employers. The fair is open to sophomores, juniors and seniors.
“The employers that I’ve talked to seem to be pretty interested,” Knight said. “And it’s a good opportunity for the kids because a lot of them have never been to a job interview.
“I think it will gain more momentum the more we do it.”
Knight said the Chamber plans to continue lining up the annual EmployMEpalooza event after JA Inspire to Hire.
“The Inspire to Hire event is great for walking around and exploring careers,” he said. “Then, the students have some time to think about what they’re interested in and they’re able to sell themselves here.”
