Local job market booms after two-year dip

WCC students can test the waters at virtual internship fair on Friday

by JORDAN SCENNA
Deputy Editor

The job market is seeing a return to normalcy after almost two years of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Employers who slammed the brakes on filling jobs and internship positions because of economic and logistical uncertainty have returned to college campuses looking for students to join their ranks. The uptick began last summer and has continued to grow; while unemployment numbers have fallen to 4% nationwide. This is a sharp contrast from the almost 15 percent jobless rate the U.S. labor department recorded in April 2020 after businesses closed due to COVID restrictions.    

Employers are ratcheting up recruiting efforts. Washtenaw Community College has 270 jobs and internships from over 80 companies posted on its career-connect website. Jobs are available across many sectors, with the most in-demand positions coming from healthcare, IT, auto-tech, finance, sales, and marketing. 

WCC has relationships with many institutions in the area and assists students in finding jobs and internship positions. One institution, the University of Michigan, is the largest employer in Washtenaw County and is currently seeking an IT help-desk apprenticeship. Other employers seeking applicants include Ann Arbor Transportation (mechanics, auto-techs), Avalon Housing, (residential support specialists) and the City of Dearborn, (police, municipal) among others.

Disney World, the entertainment resort near Orlando, Florida, is also offering employment opportunities. Disney World plucks interested students from across the country for a twice-a-year internship position. Students can earn college credit while bolstering their resumes.  

“(Disney World) is actively seeking community college students,” said Kyrsten Rue, staffer in the Career Services Center. “They are taking proactive steps to hire WCC students.”  

Rue’s main focus is to connect employers with students. WCC doesn’t have a “placement program,” but she helps students identify ways to find internship strategies. This is great for students who are in programs like journalism which doesn’t have a traditional path to an internship.

“We’ll help any student, from any major, search for and try to secure an internship related to their degree,” Rue said.

Jacob Sackett-Debene, a journalism major in his second year at WCC, isn’t worried about finding a position in the current job market.  

“I think journalism is a very versatile field in our modern age and I can find some form of news work after WCC,” Sacket-Debene said.  “I think the pandemic has actually helped a lot of people start journalism positions; there has been a boom in news reporting and podcasts because of the pandemic.”

The Disney World internship can be found on Career Connect on the WCC website.

This mad dash for staffing is a complete turnaround from what colleges were experiencing at the beginning of the pandemic. Just 3 days before WCC closed its doors due to the national health crisis, the college hosted 70 employers for a career fair, but when Covid forced companies to shut down, the new norm was “business as unusual.”

“Employers were trying to determine what their path would be going forward,” said Cheryl Harvey, director of the Center for Career Success. “Especially with internships; there were less options in Career Connect; that whole faucet was cut off.”

Harvey and her staff tried to combat this drop off by offering virtual internship fairs, but companies were slow to hire in the early days of the pandemic. Large companies like Quicken Loans, who routinely cherry-picked interns from the school, reduced the number of students they were taking in. Small businesses stopped completely.  

Workshops that people could attend virtually and learn new skills saw a rise in attendance, according to Harvey. Widespread “stay at home” orders in the U.S. gave people the time they never had to increase their skill set to either make a lateral move or find new employment altogether. 

Opportunities to help your community

One of the organizations taking part in the virtual internship fair is Mentor 2 Youth. Based in Ypsilanti, Mentor 2 Youth provides kids and parents instruction in the areas of discipline, finance, and emotional intelligence . Founder, Emmanuel Jones (an EMU grad who started the program in 2011 as a school project), stepped down at the beginning of the pandemic. Darryl Johnson, a member of the board of directors since 2016, took over as executive director of operations.

“COVID left the organization solely with me,” Johnson said.

The community-builder is looking to fill several positions including program assistant, community liaison officer, and administrative assistant. According to Johnson, this is an excellent opportunity to gain experience and have a meaningful impact on the community.

“There are so many things Black children never experience,” Johnson said. “One new component can change your purpose…can change your life.” 

Johnson’s “Raising Royalty” model uses the game of chess to instill principles with each piece representing different values and character assets. For example, the king represents mission and purpose; the queen represents love and values; the bishop, stewardship; and the rook and pawns community and discipline.  

Johnson wants to help families build foundations that can give them the tools to succeed.

“So much can be wrapped up in a problem,” Johnson said. “We want to teach people to appreciate that problem and how to learn from it.”

If you’d like to join the Mentor 2 Youth team you can register for the virtual internship fair on the WCC website or contact Darryl Johnson at https://www.mentor2youth.org/contact

WCC will also hold a virtual career fair on April 8.

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