Location3 Goes Back to School

Did you get quality career guidance in high school? Are you aware of all the different paths available in a digital marketing agency alone? 

Denver Public Schools is working to better prepare students for career paths across many business verticals through their Xplore Industry Exploration Program. Location3 was honored to be a part of the program for a second year, and personally, I am proud to be a part of the team that represented our company in a career chat last week at Thomas Jefferson High School. 

First off, a thank you to our hosts – Career Navigator Matt Mason worked to connect Location3 with Mr. Matt Nicolo’s Marketing class at Thomas Jefferson. It was inspiring to meet the students! We couldn’t ask for a more engaged and thoughtful audience. It’s exciting to imagine how these bright young minds will transform the business and marketing world of the future.  

Getting Started with Denver Public Schools 

Location3’s CEO, Alex Porter, was looking for new ways to get involved in the Denver community. Pre-Covid, our company worked to give back – we participated in volunteer events and held donation drives with regularity. The coronavirus necessitated a change in how we approached philanthropy – we continued to hold matching-funds fundraisers on behalf of many organizations. But we wanted to create more of an impact in our own community, and we wanted to answer the call to promote diversity in Marketing. We are hoping that by generating interest in our field at a young age, a more diverse group of people will consider Marketing as a viable career path. 

As Alex puts it, “I want to help expose students to digital marketing and help them understand what they can be doing now – even at a young age – to set themselves up for a successful career.”  

That sparked the idea to connect with our local school district, Denver Public Schools, to seek ways to contribute to their career development programs. And Alex’s vision doesn’t stop there; we are actively working toward implementing a high school internship program at Location3! 

Career Days are Important 

These career chats have been a highlight of my career, and I encourage other companies to get involved in similar ways. Career days can widen the horizon of opportunity for students. You have to know what types of jobs are out there to make informed decisions about the education, training, internships, etc., needed to acquire those jobs.  

A career day is advertising for your industry, which is beneficial for your company, too. Is your employee pool lacking in the needed skills and experience to perform well at your company? By talking with young people about your business, you can help them align future planning with the demands of the job market. 

I also firmly believe that career chats can lay a bit of groundwork for diversifying our field. While it’s only a seed – one that will need nurturing to grow – I hope early exposure to new career paths will help students from diverse backgrounds enter Marketing and rise to the top. 

My own participation in the career chats has been very meaningful to me. I didn’t start out in Marketing; I don’t hold a degree in a related field (BA in Spanish, MS Education). Through the support of the incredible team at Location3, I was able to launch my own career in the industry. And it’s a career I’m proud of! As Marketing Manager, I’m in a position where I can learn new things every day, apply my creative side, and take part in meaningful projects company-wide. I love getting to share some of the interesting things we do as a digital marketing agency.  

Our Approach 

CEO Alex Porter, VP of Marketing Josh Allen, and Project Coordinator Molly Michieli joined me in the chat – and our approach was unique. Instead of preparing a presentation, we hoped to keep it conversational (as much as the virtual format would allow) by asking our student audience a series of questions. It was interesting to get their informed perspectives on digital technology and see how they apply their abundant knowledge to the marketing world. Our team was then able to share our different perspectives. We only wished for more time!  

In Summary 

Get out there and find ways to inform the young people in your community about job opportunities in your field. Students benefit from knowing what’s out there and how to start building their careers early.