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Approximately 300 high school students from 14 north Arkansas schools will sit down with 28 employers Thursday at Arkansas State University-Mountain Home for the second annual North Central Arkansas Draft Day.
The career event, organized by the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce’s Be Pro Be Proud initiative, is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at The Sheid, 1600 S. College St. Eighty-five of the participating students are interviewing seniors.
Draft Day is not a traditional career fair. Using the YouScience Aptitude and Interest Assessment, the program matches students with employers based on individual interests, aptitudes and industry needs before they arrive, allowing for focused interviews rather than aimless browsing.
Employers at Thursday’s event represent the construction, forestry, manufacturing, transportation and utilities industries.
Last year’s inaugural Mountain Home event drew more than 700 students from 25 schools across nine counties, who interviewed with 33 regional employers. Across all nine Draft Day locations statewide that year, students participated in roughly 3,000 interviews. About 5 percent received conditional job offers on the spot, another 12 to 15 percent were invited back for follow-up interviews, and 20 to 25 percent were encouraged to apply once they turned 18.
Be Pro Be Proud Executive Director Andrew Parker said at last year’s Mountain Home event that the program’s core mission is changing how students, parents and educators view technical careers.
“The focus is addressing the workforce gap by changing the perception that students, parents, and educators have about what is a technical profession,” Parker said. “Engaging that conversation to address these as technical professions that should be pursued as options of first choice.”
Mountain Home Area Chamber of Commerce President Dani Pugsley, who also leads the North Central Arkansas Economic Alliance, said last year that the event serves a dual purpose for the region.
“We know that there’s a lot of students from rural communities that have never been on this campus, never been to Mountain Home,” Pugsley said. “Anytime we can get students to stay local,” that benefits the community.
The North Central Economic Alliance is serving as the career expo sponsor for Thursday’s event. Vantive is sponsoring the hospitality suite, while Bourg Builders and the Alliance are co-sponsoring lunch.
Statewide sponsors include the Arkansas Department of Education, Office of Skills Development, Arkansas Department of Shared Administrative Services and Arkansas Department of Commerce.
The event will again feature the Be Pro Be Proud Mobile Workshop, which gives students augmented reality experiences simulating in-demand technical career environments.
Be Pro Be Proud launched in Arkansas in 2016 and has since expanded to Alabama, Georgia, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. For more information, visit beprobeproudar.org.
