On April 26th, 100 students from 9 different TECH Center Programs and 35 employers from Lenawee County participated in the 5th annual LISD TECH Center Reverse Job Fair. This is not your typical job fair! Instead of having employers on display, the LISD TECH Center students are on display and show their talents to prospective employers as they tour the center. Each student has a table and the tables are coordinated by color according to what program the student is participating in. Doing this helps employers more easily seek out skills and trade sets that they are looking for. Having students show their talents to employers, helps students with soft skills training and helps prepare them for future employment. Putting students in the position to interact with different contributes to our workforce development system. This initiative helps place students in companies that are struggling to find talent and helps retain and grow business in our county and region.
The staff at the LISD TECH Center help prepare their students by putting them through what they call The Reverse Job Fair Boot Camp. Students who choose to participate in the reverse job fair must go through this process. This helps students with interview prep, interview skills, staff help review students resumes, staff discuss professional dress attire, and help students prepare an elevator pitch.
After participating in the reverse job fair, students reach out to interested employers about direct hire. There were 64 follow up after this year’s Reverse Job Fair. The Reverse Job Fair is unique to Lenawee County; employers travel from several neighboring counties to interact with and interview our students. Developing an excellent talent pipeline is one of the number one challenges facing economic developers today. This program puts Lenawee on the map for solving the talent crisis.