Chamber’s Youth Leadership Class Connects Young People with Potential Employers

Mock job interviews with community professionals in a variety of career fields.

The Harrison Regional Chamber of Commerce hosted its monthly Youth Leadership Class on Wednesday morning connecting students with area professionals in the form of mock interviews.

Students were asked what career fields they might be interested in, and the chamber contacted local professionals in those fields to come to the event and have a 25 minute mock interview with the student, giving them advice on how to get started in the career they want.

Five local high schools have students in the class including Harrison, Alpena, Bergman, Valley Springs, and Lead Hill.

Chamber Vice President Wilson Marseilles said the students go on a retreat once a month and learn about different opportunities in the community.

“Last month they did financial and life skills. They went through financial simulation, they learned about interview best practices, and resume best practices, and about to workshop and build a resume and work on their own. Next Month they do healthcare, after that they do agriculture,” he said.

Marseilles said this year’s event was an improvement over last year’s. Last year they also held a mock interview session but improved it this year by asking students what careers they were interested in beforehand so that they could get them connected with professionals in those specific areas.

Marseilles said, “We look in this community and there are so many people that are willing to give of their time, and volunteer, and give back, and help student’s get prepared for whatever skills they might need in the future.”

He also said that some students are already looking into opportunities to job shadow or work part-time this summer learning more about these and other career fields that they may or may not have been interested in at the start.