Connect Cape gives Southeast students, businesses valuable experience

The Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce’s role is a connector between businesses, people and the community, said Shad Burner, vice president of business development for the chamber.

And when he heard from businesses they were challenged by recruiting top talent and saw university graduates were leaving the area, an idea surfaced.

That idea was Connect Cape.

“When we looked at the landscape initially, we knew the biggest place we were losing talent is from the university,” Burner said, adding less than 20 percent of graduates settle in Cape Girardeau.

Burner said the 20 percent figure wasn’t terribly surprising, given many Southeast students hail from outside the area, “but I always say it would be a shame if they left without knowing what opportunities there are in our community.”

Burner said the program is admittedly “pretty simple,” and it has changed a lot, but “I think we can get there in the future and make a big difference ultimately for the businesses and, at the same time, this only works if it’s effective for the students.”

So the chamber partnered with Southeast Missouri State University in the spring and launched a 5- to 10-hour job-shadowing program for students and businesses.

That first semester, only about 10 students participated, Burner said, but in the next session in the fall, they had 50 participants.

“We had a lot of success this fall, and we learned a lot along the way,” Burner said.

One of the points that caught Burner’s attention was the survey results.

Of the students who responded, 100 percent said they would recommend the program to someone else, and 91 percent of businesses said they’d participate again.

One of those student participants who would recommend the program is Brooke Colbert, a senior majoring in human-resources management from Troy, Missouri. Her placement was with Saint Francis Medical Center’s human-resources department and, she said, the experience was well worth it.

“I got to shadow everyone in the human-resources department, what jobs they do, what they like and don’t like about it, what their duties look like from day to day,” Colbert said.

She said she’d had an internship over the summer at a smaller company, and the contrast was good for her to experience.

Besides, she said, “It’s a great resume-builder. ... Any way to set yourself apart from other applicants for a future job is beneficial.”

Scott Ringwald, senior commercial lender with Montgomery Bank who also is a chamber board member, said Burner approached the business in October about Connect Cape.

“We were happy to be a part of it not only as a member of the chamber, but it’s a great opportunity for these students,” Ringwald said.

Two students majoring in accounting contacted them, he said.

“Our department reported back that it was interesting to find out that these students didn’t realize there were other opportunities for them outside of working as an accountant for a firm. They were excited to learn they weren’t limited to one area after graduation, but many companies have internal accounting departments that were options for them to pursue,” Ringwald said.

In school settings, as Burner said he understands it, there’s more emphasis on job training. But there isn’t necessarily the infrastructure in place to train students on career readiness in addition to everything else teachers and administrators are required to address.

That’s where the chamber steps in.

“Hopefully we can make this a little more seamless for educational institutions and students,” Burner said.

This spring, the program will take a break, Burner said, as the chamber reassesses the program.

“Moving forward, we are looking at how we expand this program to include other schools in the area,” Burner said, adding they want to get more students interacting with the business community on a much bigger scale.

“We will probably roll out a significantly altered program in fall 2018,” Burner said. “A broader vision, not just job shadowing, but the program becomes an umbrella for job placement, career experience type learning.”

Internships and apprenticeships are possibilities, Burner said, depending on the needs of the organization and the needs of the student.

“We want to help facilitate a match that makes sense for all parties involved,” Burner said.

One student even told Burner that “I now know I don’t want to go into this field,” which is great, Burner said, because “that saved that student a lot of time and energy down the road, and saves businesses grief in hiring someone who didn’t really want to be there. I think all parties are seeing benefit from it.”

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address:

220 N. Fountain St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.