By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
As the season shifts from summer to fall, the focus at the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce begins to shift as well.
President and CEO Natalie Hawn says as the chamber moves into fall, the focus moves from fun summertime activities around the city into workforce development.
Hawn says that focus brings several events, the first coming up one week from today with a community job fair being held
“We do that purposefully in the fall right after school kind of starts because we want to pick up maybe those folks who have graduated either college or high school in the spring and maybe had a summer part time job and maybe are looking for more of a career,” Hawn says on the KFEQmunnity show. “So, we always do a fall career fair which is always well attended.”
The career fair will be held at the Stoney Creek Hotel and Conference Center on September 23rd from 3 to 6pm.
Hawn says the Chamber offers several workforce opportunities throughout the fall, some focusing on students, such as hosting one of the largest Manufacturing Day events.
Hawn says after going into some of the manufacturing businesses with groups last year, it’s exciting to see students learning about the opportunities in manufacturing
“It was fun seeing their eyes kind of light up as they learned more about opportunity,” Hawn explains. “Because I think as students you learn about jobs you are familiar with, like nursing, or doctors, or lawyers, or teachers because maybe those are maybe something you experience or see on TV, but you rarely learn about manufacturing, and really the technology that’s behind manufacturing.”
Manufacturing Day will be held on Thursday October 2nd. The day is designed to recognize the importance of manufacturing.
Additionally for students, Hawn says later in October, the annual My Success event will offer students from around the area the chance to learn about career opportunities as well.
Hawn says My Success invites seniors from around the area not just St. Joseph, to explore the careers available to them
“It’s designed to be interactive, but it’s also educational, so that the students know no matter what their path is they have an opportunity for employment here in St. Joseph,” Hawn says.
My Success will be held October 14th and 15th at the Civic Arena. The event brings in around 2 thousand students from around the area each year.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.