Workforce is a challenge for 2/3rds of rural small businesses.

Source: Survey of Rural Challenges, 2021

One under-utilized source of workers: At-risk students

Tony Guidroz, from San Saba, Texas, told me he was shocked when he found out there were 702 kids in the local school district, and more than 400 were considered “at-risk” either because of grades or language barriers.

Tony wanted to give them more choices and more chances. So he shared his idea for a Blue Collar Career Fair where, rather than employers letting grades or language barriers stop kids from applying, employers could connect directly with these kids.

Tony’s brilliant insight was to skip the usual lecture part of the career fair. Instead why not make it all hands-on? From trying out a welder to driving a skid steer loader. That would grab kids attention while it also helped employers look beyond “at-risk” status.

Give at-risk kids hands-on career experiences

Another career fair with a hands-on portion came from Jimi Coplen. She participates in a career fair in Knox County, Texas, population: 3,353

“We feature a lot of careers that can be done in rural communities but pay big bucks. But we also feature things such as Marine Biology – which can’t be done anywhere close to here! Turns out, the kids were totally enamored by this career! It opened their eyes to new possibilities.

“Our day brings in about 30 different speakers from 20 different career fields. The kids get to pick…We do it regionally, focusing on small schools that may not get as many opportunities to hear such quality speakers. It is a tough event to pull together, but the benefits are well worth the efforts.”

Some of the hands-on demonstrations included trying on a full haz-mat suit and testing physical therapy tools.

Kid in a haz mat suit gives two thumbs up

Trying out a haz-mat suit at the rural career fair. Photo courtesy of Jimi Coplen.

Physical therapy hands on at Knox County TX career fair

At the career fair, high school kids tried out some physical therapy tools hands-on. Photo courtesy of Jimi Coplen

How are you reaching the kids in your town who get labeled as at-risk? What real world career experiences do they get hands-on?

Learn more practical steps in the Rural Workforce Trends video from SaveYour.Town

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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.