Core4 Youth Career Expo

About the Program

Category: Personnel Management, Employment and Training (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

It’s often difficult for young people to gain much exposure to career options beyond those of family members and characters in television shows or movies. Public service careers are especially likely to be overlooked by young adults. To introduce students to public sector career opportunities, the four largest government entities in our region – Johnson County, Kansas, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, Jackson County, Missouri, as well as Kansas City, Missouri – hosted a large youth career expo. These four governments, referred to collectively as the “CORE4”, have collaborated to increase communication and coordination on key regional issues that cross jurisdictional boundaries. Human Resources staff from these four jurisdictions began planning for this event in 2014, by working to identify common challenges faced by all entities, brainstorming ways to address the challenges and, in the end, reached consensus around hosting an event to reach future public servants in this region and planting seeds about the diverse job opportunities available in the public sector. The CORE4 Youth Career Expo occurred on September 29 at Bartle Hall in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Approximately 2,400 middle- and high-school students and 169 counselors, teachers and chaperones from 45 metropolitan area schools attended the event. Students explored 65 interactive booths representing a wide variety of government agencies and functions. At many of the booths, students could play a game or complete an activity related to the work or the represented booth’s job function and learn career specifics, such as salary range and educational requirements. For example, one exhibit featured a booth that provided students a glimpse of what public information officers do by allowing students to conduct mock media interviews on camera in front of a green screen. “The expo did an excellent job of displaying the vast array of public service careers that are available for students to pursue,” said Clay Frigon, career and technical education coordinator at Spring Hill High School. “The most beneficial part was the dialogue between our students and the representatives at the tables. It was definitely an eye-opening experience for our students.”