Communicating Summer and Internship Opportunities for Students

Businesses that have job postings for summer jobs, internships/co-op positions during the school year or part-time work on nights and weekends suitable for students (17-22 years old or younger, if appropriate), please let us know where to find your postings!

The counselor newsletter shown below is going to be distributed to counselors, career service staff, work-based learning coordinators, parents and students in the region. We want to connect organizations and students in the region so that up and coming talent can get connected with regional businesses and hopefully get exposure to high-demand careers they may not know exist. Please help connect you by providing a link to your postings today!

Talent Pipeline Management Principle 1: Business and Industry is the End Customer of Education

One of the foundational principles of talent pipeline management is recognizing employers play the key leadership role as the end-customer in closing the skills gap for jobs most critical to competitiveness. This perspective on pipeline management provides an approach that is demand-driven and more effective in managing risks and shared value among all partners (employers, education and workforce providers, students, workers, and policymakers).

One of the issues facing successful pipeline management is the varied perspectives on who is the end customer of the pipeline. Businesses, along with a vibrant economy, should be that end customer. Yet often, the perspective of educators has been that universities and state standardized testing are the end customer, rather than a link within a pipeline. When these perspectives do not match, there is a gap in the pipeline with many prospective employees unprepared for available jobs.

There are many indicators that the perspective of educators is shifting in the right

direction. Much of that change is a result of businesses being more proactive in the development of partnerships and collaboration with educators in the pipeline. There has also been increased state and federal funding directed toward all parts of the talent pipeline supporting business success and economic strength.

The emphasis of recognizing employers as the end-customers and responding to the skills and needs of all students has many success stories in the Great Lakes Bay Region, including:

Career and Technical Education

• The State of Michigan reports for the 2021-2022 school year, 106,077 students were enrolled in 2,130 postsecondary CTE programs.

• CTE programs saw a 94.9% four-year graduation rate for students who participate in CTE compared to Michigan's statewide four-year graduation rate of 80.5%

• 47,990 special population students were enrolled in a CTE program (45.2% of all CTE students). Special populations include: individuals from economically disadvantaged families, individuals with disabilities, English learners, single parents, homeless individuals, migrant students, individuals preparing for non-traditional fields, and youth with a parent in active military. (michigan.gov)

• Michigan students who enrolled in a high school CTE program earned higher wages than non-CTE students within each level of educational attainment Michigan CTE Fact Sheet

Community colleges provides quick response to business as their end customer:

• Community colleges are teaming up with local K-12 schools to increase dual enrollment opportunities. Mid Michigan College partners with the Clare- Gladwin school district, sharing educators and facilities to provide wider access to certifications and degrees for students at an increased pace. They share hands-on lab space at the Magnus Center in Harrison on Mid’s campus as well as instructors and resources for Automotive, Advanced Manufacturing, and HVAC students.

• Mid Michigan Industries reached out to Mid Michigan College regarding the high demand for direct support professionals in the region. Research supported the high need throughout the state as well. Mid responded by developing a curriculum, securing an instructor, providing college resources as well as work-based learning positions, to train individuals for that career through short-term and rapid training programs. The response was quick and effective to help fill the need and provide access to a meaningful career for local seekers.

• Mid currently is responding to training requests from St. Gobain of Beaverton and Rite Hite of Clare via Going Pro grants. Trainings cover a wide range of needs including data analysis, design of experiment, potential failure mode and effect analysis (PFMEA), a lean manufacturing series, supply chain management, shop math, blueprint reading, effective risk management, and a leadership course for employees transitioning from co-workers to team leaders. Other businesses interested can contact Autumn Mathews, Director of Workforce and Economic Development at Mid, at ammatthews@midmich.edu or Phone: 989-386-6614 ext. 550.

Efforts of Collaboratives

• The Central Michigan Manufacturing Association is proactive to guide educators as they support their membership by working on issues important to manufacturers. The Education Special Interest Group partners business and education entities to “foster and retain local talent by collaboratively working with Central Michigan industries and other community stakeholders to promote high-demand career pathways available in the Central Michigan region to our youth, their parents and educators.” This collaborative is highly successful with communication between stakeholders and also inspires members to be actively involved in educator tours, career fair participation, and community awareness.

• Partnerships between business and education collaboratives, including manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture and construction, were highly successful obtaining hundreds of thousands of dollars of Marshall Grant funds. This helped support Career Navigators across the Great Lakes Bay Region who act as connecting links for business to students and educators in most schools across the region.

Dramatic increases in dual enrollment for high school students, rapid responses by community colleges to fill immediate training needs, greater investment in CTE programs and strong collaboration across industries are ways our region is thinking about our end customer. Sustaining and increasing those efforts will only make our local economy stronger.

Please contact Carol McCaul, Employer Talent Pipeline Lead at cmccaulsps@gmail.com if you need help identifying and connecting with a career navigator, a college career center, or any of the resources mentioned in this article.

Career Exploration: Ashley Hoffman’s Job Shadow with Vantage Plastics

Ashley Hoffman is finishing up her sophomore year at Saginaw Valley State University majoring in chemistry and recently took part in a company tour with Vantage Plastics in Standish, Michigan to find more about the company and what they do.

“When I got there, I didn't know what to expect, because it’s a fairly large place and there are multiple warehouses. They gave me a rundown of the company, what they do and showed me some of their products.

I'm a chemistry major and so I asked questions about if they had any other labs and facilities? Did they partner with different chemical companies? Did they do formulations, etc? They explained that they only do production and material recycling, but that didn’t matter as much to me, because I went in with an open mind just trying to learn more about them along the way.

I toured their main plant and they took me out onto the floor where there's a bunch of huge machines that run and process the plastics that they get.

I learned the biggest part of what they do comes from recycled plastics and third-party providers of recycled material. It's all recycled in some way, whether they buy their products back from companies or partnering with others who take plastics from the ocean and other places.

I learned some of the companies they partner with include a lot of the automotive companies such as Ford or Tesla. Those companies use plastic crates to ship the parts, like if they are sending an engine somewhere. It is safely packaged in a custom box made of pretty sturdy plastic so it is shipped properly and doesn't get damaged. Once the engine arrives, before some companies would just throw the packaging away, but what Vantage asks their customers to do is send back the plastic container and they'll reuse it.

I got to see the general cycle of how they do things. They showed me the process of how their plastic production works and how their sister company, Edge Materials Management, recycles and breaks down certain types of plastics to get a specific color, specific sturdiness or pellet size, which I thought was pretty interesting.

They showed me some of their machines that actually press the plastic together to form products. When I was there, they were manufacturing those blue kiddie pools because they're getting ready for summer. They told me that some of the things they manufacture the most of is plastic sleds for the winter and pools for summer.

They shared that they are a family company and I didn't know that, which I thought was pretty neat. They focus on being good to their employees and personal with their customers, while also making products from recycled materials in a sustainable way.

I asked a general question, just because I was curious about the things people regularly put in their recycling bins that the city picks up and if that ever gets used in their products. They said they don’t use that material and a smaller percentage of those types of plastics actually get recycled because people recycle poorly all the time. They work with material they buy back or purchase specifically as recycled plastic content they can work with.

The tour lasted about an hour and they were very nice. While I knew that this is not the career path for me with my interests in chemistry, I appreciated the work that they're doing there. So, what I got out of it was just being more aware of Vantage Plastics as a company, what they do and meeting some of the people. Now, if I ever run into somebody who's interested in that sort of thing, I can share this with them."

You can view Ashley Hoffman’s CSO profile here and learn more about Vantage Plastics and their efforts to sustainably reuse plastics here.

Career Fair Season is on in the Great Lakes Bay Region!

Spring is a great time to interact with new and local talent at local career fairs. In the coming weeks and months, both high school and college students will be looking for summer work and internship opportunities. High school students are also making decisions regarding CTE programs and many obtain needed information and connections through career fairs.

Last month’s newsletter included a few best practices for successful student attraction to business representatives and materials at a career fair table. Here are a few more upcoming events to put those to good use!

Upcoming Career Fair Calendar

Upcoming STEM Camp and Activity Information

The Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance runs STEM Pipeline, your local resource for STEM activities and information in the region. We've also compiled a list of upcoming summer camps for youth to check out this summer!