CHICAGO — Volunteers for Industrial Careers Pathway (ICP), called ICP Ambassadors, have been busy during the first two months of the year attending five separate career events in different parts of the country. March and April will be even busier for ICP Ambassadors as they help spread the word about the incredibly rewarding career opportunities in the field of industrial distribution.
Chris Bursack, director of business development for ISC Companies, Inc. and two of his colleagues, Jeff Matson, chief marketing officer, and Shelly Anderson, HR manager, attended the first 2016 career event in Burnsville, MN, at Burnsville High School on Jan. 26. An evening event, it gave parents an opportunity, along with their children, to visit the 110 participating community partners.
“Here is an awesome opportunity for BHS students, their families and the public to explore a large number of career choices," said Margo Swanson, organizer of the event. "This is a chance to talk informally about job duties, education, training, salary range, and more."
Bursak added, “Traffic was brisk so I was glad we had three people attending. Jeff had the opportunity to speak for the local TV station, which gave our company some publicity. We’d be willing to do this again as we find it rewarding to tell students about what we do as distributors.”
Employees of IBT Industrial Solutions, Dawayne Wilson and Scott Travis, volunteered to attend the Metro Meridian High School career event in Wichita, KS on Jan. 27. Scott and Dawayne talked with about 40 students. Dawayne said, “Faculty also stopped by and were just as interested as the students. It’s true that most people don’t know much about our field but we feel we helped educate those who stopped by to talk.”
In addition to providing visibility about entry-level careers in industrial distribution, ICP develops and delivers useful programs, services and tools to help industrial distributors recruit, on-board, hire, manage, train and retain entry-level employees. There are many resources available to member companies of ICP Alliance Partner trade associations such as the free “Find-an-Intern” directory which companies can use to identify schools with student internship programs at IndustrialCareersPathway.org/FindAnIntern.
ICP is a multifaceted North American workforce initiative supported by an alliance of industry associations including American Supply Association, Heating Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International, Industrial Supply Association Education Foundation, National Association of Chemical Distributors, National Association of Electrical Distributors Education & Research Foundation, NAHAD — The Association for Hose & Accessories Distribution, NIBA — The Belting Association, North American Building Material Distribution Association (NBMDA) and PTDA Foundation. ICP links students and job seekers to career paths in industrial distribution and manufacturing through partnerships with local educators and employers. For more information, visit www.industrialcareerspathway.org/Hire, contact ICP at [email protected] or call +1.312.516.2100.
