Students learn from industry leaders

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High school students in Carleton North and Hartland learned from industry leaders about the importance of marketing themselves this week.

Kyndryl Canada joined forces with McCain Foods to provide a LinkedIn and professional career development workshop on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning for local high school students.

Sukhvinder Auluck, a Kyndryl Canada senior director, was among the leaders on hand to work with students.

He says online platforms like LinkedIn have become a critical professional development resource, but navigating them safely is crucial, particularly at a time when younger generations are three times more likely to fall victim to online scams.

He said the online platform, and others like it, play a very important role in the hiring process.

“It is about establishing your professional footprint,” he said. “LinkedIn amplifies and provides an avenue to identify yourself in terms of what you have done.”

Kim McAuley, the director of Human Resources for Global Technology at McCain’s, said the company “almost solely relies on LinkedIn profiles for recruiting and the profile serves as a person’s online resume.”

“You have no idea how important this tool is,” she said. “I think this is a great start to get students thinking about what they want to do in the future, and it is triggering them to think about long term career planning.”

Auluck said the online portal allows students to start recording accomplishments and awards early and building the profile opens doors to networking with other students and professionals, as well as opening doors with employers.

“Kids know what the other social media sights are, but when it comes to professional sites it is never too early in a career to build that footprint,” he said, adding students do far more in their high school careers than “just go to school” and creating a record of work, skills and certificates early allows an employer to see exactly what they have accomplished.

“For example, these are mostly grade 11 and 12 students, they are going to potentially be going to trade school or post-secondary institutions,” he said, adding the profile will allow them to reach out to others in their preferred field to ask questions. “It allows them to talk to them, ask questions and get a feel for the program and if it is right for them, this is just the beginning of them developing their network.”

The day began with a presentation, before moving into a hands-on workshop and even professional headshots for each student to use for their profiles, which Auluck noted is something many companies do for their employees.

“We wanted to give them a good start on building a successful profile and I do feel this will go a long way and they will reap the benefits of this for months and years to come,” he said.

Carleton North High School senior Caylen McLean said the workshop was a unique opportunity for the student participants.

“Not every student can have a large corporation come in and show them a step-by-step process on how to capitalize on their services,” he said. “It’s a unique chance to have someone so familiar with the business world show students how they can build portfolios and then access jobs after high school.”

Auluck says around 200 students will participate at the two workshops, but he hopes to eventually see them expand across the province.

“The intent is to have this, see how the reception is and potentially expand from there, in terms of what works for other communities,” he said. “I think this benefits the students now and, in the future, too.”