1. “Backpacks to Briefcases”

2. Presenters
• Elizabeth Brashear
• NCSU, Career Development Center
• Thomas White
• NCSU, Economic Development
• Darrell Kain
• CAWDB, Business Services

3. Presentation Outline
• College Transition Challenges
• Triangle Region and University Economic
Development
• Program Implementation
• Future Opportunities
• Questions/Feedback

4. Participant Quote
"I cannot say how appreciative I am to have
received this opportunity. For the first time in
my life I can honestly say that I actually
enjoy getting up and going to work. The
Desmond Ford
prep classes you all provided worked • NC A&T Graduate,
wonders in helping me adjust to the • BS, Electronic
corporate environment. Since this company Technology
stores data I have met some CEO's and
CFO's of large companies such as Dole • Intern and New Hire
foods, TOMS shoes, NBA at Freudenberg IT
representatives, and so many more. I'm
very pleased with my progression over the
last few months. I cannot thank you guys
enough and God Bless each one of you.
Please continue to do the community
justice, because if you have changed my life
you can certainly change many more!”

5. Transition Challenges

6. Entry Level Positions
Many recent graduates
(outside of STEM fields)
take jobs that are not in
their field of study:
retail, customer
service, and
administrative

7. Transition Challenges
• Employment Statistics
– Only 51% recent graduates employed full-
time
– Only 39% working in field closely related to
degree
– Only 22% rated first job as a “career type” job
– Graduates who have not participated in
Internships & Co-op struggle to gain
experience

8. Weak Economy and Greater Competition
• Recent graduates are competing against
experienced professionals for entry level
positions
– 46% of population has Bachelor’s or higher
• Record unemployment rates
• Outside of STEM disciplines, decrease of
on-campus recruitment by companies

9. Career Readiness Curriculum
• Some debate whether this is a major role of a
university. However some education
providers are creating programs.
– Recent “Bloomberg Business Week” article notes
some undergraduate programs require a resume
to apply for entrance.
• The depth and effectiveness of programs
vary across universities and within colleges.

10. The Triangle Region & University Job
Creation

11. Technology Oriented Clusters
• Defense
• Clean Tech Energy
• Digital Media
• Bio-pharmaceutical
• Information
Technology
• Photonics

12. Regional Centers of Excellence
• Research Triangle Park
– GSK, IBM, Lenovo,
Sensus
• NCSU Centennial
Campus
– ABB
• Durham American
Tobacco Campus
– Gaming Companies
• Downtown Raleigh
– Red Hat

13. University Role in Job Creation
• Recruiting companies to relocate because of
university staff support and facilities
– COT Nonwovens Institute
– BTEC
• NCSU houses an incubator site for entrepreneurs
• NCSU helps companies to expand by providing
technical expertise – Industrial Extension Service
• NCSU organizes the largest technology career fair
on the East Coast.

14. Government Partnership
• Capital Area Workforce Development Board is a
federally funded-non profit that provides services
to businesses and job seekers.
• CAWDB has funding to pay for internships,
facilities, and staff.
• CAWDB is a leading member of Triangle
Worksource, a regional workforce development
partnership
• On its committees are members from universities,
technical colleges, and the public school systems

15. Creation of “Backpacks to Briefcases”

16. Overview
• Recruit recent college graduates who are
unemployed/underemployed
• Provide short term internships
– Provide a stipend of $12/hour for 3 months
• Provide job readiness & coaching for
candidates

17. Process
• Identified internal funding source
• Developed job readiness classes and
materials
• Utilized existing staff and hired 1 coordinator
• Advertised on Craig’s List and NCSU Career
Development Center
• Hosted information sessions at NCSU in
January 2012

18. Recent Graduates
• 52 enrollments
• 28 universities represented
• 50% of participants from NC State
University
• Various disciplines: Accounting,
Economics, Business, Computer
Networking, Economics, Finance,
Marketing, Political Science, and others

19. Job Readiness- “Jumpstart”
• 20 Hours of job readiness and
communications workshops
• Individualized Career Coaching
• Skill Assessment
• Filmed Mock Interview
• Business Book Presentation
• Participation is a requirement before
internship or job referral

20. Innovative Recruiting
• Decided traditional job fair or resume submission
was not appropriate
• Gave employers a few minutes to talk about their
company and the types of openings available
• Near one to one ratio of company to candidate
• Held informal unstructured networking session
• Held timed networking in “speed dating” style

21. Success: Companies & Candidates
• 63 employers attended
job fairs, 30 hired interns
• 52 candidates enrolled
• 39 internships
established
• 10 candidates hired full
time without internship
• 94% placement rate

22. Success Stories

23. American Cancer Society Internships
• Obtained 3 interns
• Recruited 8 new business
teams
• Generated 83 leads from
Expo Participation
• Recruited 74 new
volunteer referrals for
events and programs
• Increased the number of
community presentations
within a 2 month period

24. Big Brothers, Big Sisters Internship
• The intern was responsible
for helping create the plan
and implement the strategy
for a “100 Men in 100 Days”
Recruitment Campaign
• In 2011, without
administrative support, 123
men become mentors. In
2012, 200 men were
recruited
• After the internship, the
BTB intern was hired full
time

25. Employer Quote
"This experience enabled our intern
to have hands-on experience with
novel microbiological and molecular RTI
techniques, as well as learning how • 2,800 + employees
to carry out bench research • in 40 + countries
independently. The funding was • Independent, nonp
crucial in enabling our intern to work rofit research and
32 hours a week, a work-load that development
otherwise we could not have organizations
afforded to pay. We are thankful to
this program for their funding and
for their care in the development of
their interns into true professionals“
– RTI Manager

26. Future Plans

27. Future Plans
• Increase the number of participants to 75
this year
• Starting a similar program with
economically disadvantaged college
students
• Investigating ways to “franchise” the model
to areas with a similar demographic

28. • Questions
• Feedback
Conclusion