Nine Chamber members have taken advantage of an innovative Chamber of Commerce project that matched youth ages 16-24 with summer internships.
The Chamber recruited and pre-screened interested youth using WorkKeys, a work skills assessment product administered by ACT (the same ACT that tests for college placement qualifications).
More than 30 candidates took the three-hour battery of tests to establish their “readiness to work” in skill areas such as math, reading for comprehension, finding information, and reasoning.
Participating businesses provided job descriptions that were classified using ACT guidelines to determine the minimum scores in each area that a candidate would need to be considered qualified for the position.
The Chamber then provided a qualified candidate pool to each interested business for them to use in hiring one or more interns.
Each young person who passed the tests received a national “readiness to work” certificate signed by Gov. Martinez. Member businesses and organizations who have hired or are in the process of hiring an intern are Terranear, Enterprise Computing Systems, Family Council, Strategic Management Solutions, Best Western Hilltop House Hotel, Pajarito Mountain Ski Area, KRSN AM1490, Los Alamos Fitness Center, and the Fuller Lodge Art Center. The Chamber is helping wthe member businesses and organizations to be able to participate by reimbursing up to half of the wages paid to the intern.
The Chamber obtained the resources to be able to do this project through a partnership with Innovate-Educate New Mexico and the Kellogg Foundation’s New Options project.
“We still have great young candidates available to businesses looking for summer help,” says volunteer project coordinator Shari Jobe.
“Just let the Chamber know if you want to take advantage of the prescreened candidate pool.” Contact Katy Korkos at 505.661.4816 or Don Wright at 505.661.4854