Business and Education Connected, LLC, and VirtualJobShadow.com Partner to Provide Students with On-Line Interactive Career Experiences

Providing Students Avenues to Future Careers.

Business and Education Connected (BE Connected), LLC, is pleased to announce that it has partnered with VirtualJobShadow.com, a division of Strivven Media, to provide students in the greater Pittsburgh area with virtual career investigation tools.  Through this partnership, BE Connected students will have access to an array of career exploration resources including HD digital job shadow videos, regionalized job, school and internship searchers, and much more.

Founded in Pittsburgh in October 2012, Business and Education Connected’s mission is to provide students with avenues to future careers.  This is achieved through traditional job shadowing experiences, workplace tours, and career development workshops with an emphasis on the Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, (STEM) and Medical fields.  Students are partnered with businesses in the Pittsburgh region for hands-on learning opportunities following a personalized evaluation which includes student strengths identification, interest assessment, and resume review.  The work-linked learning experience has been proven to create career awareness, build career ambition, and addresses the workforce skills gap through the development of marketable skills so often lacking in young adults and recent graduates.  BE Connected’s partnership with VirtualJobShadow.com will further enhance student opportunities for career exploration and planning.

“With the highest rate of unemployment in the US being among young Americans aged 16-24, the economic consequences of these lost wages to individuals and to the broader economy are serious.” explains Christine Ricci, Executive Vice President of Business and Education Connected, LLC.   There is a critical need for businesses and students to interact in an effort to foster career development and training in 21st century skills.   “The competition for employment is now global and students need to have an understanding of the work force prior to attending post secondary education.” says Aafke Loney, President of Business and Education Connected, LLC.  Too many young Americans will delay moving out of their parents’ homes, struggle to make payments on growing student-loan debt, and be unable to save adequately for retirement which contributes to slower economic growth and less job creation.  BE Connected and VirtualJobShadow.com are initiating developments in student career exploration in the Pittsburgh region that will contribute to the growth of a strong economy while creating promising opportunities for students and a capable future workforce.

Positive change is possible if we aim at the outcome of advanced careers and the well-being of our students and graduates and the business community rises to the challenge of supporting the community.

Students and Employers in the region who would like to participate in BE Connected’s career initiatives, please contact Aafke Loney or Christine Ricci at aloney@business-education-connected.com or cricci@business-education-connected.com .  Please visit www.business-education-connected.com for more information.