Area sophomores get career headstart with help of career expo

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - More than 1,500 high school sophomores looked to get a headstart on their futures Wednesday.

The annual career expo brings students from 17 area schools to meet with local businesses and get prepared for working life.

Aside from demonstrations on equipment and meeting local recruiters, students get a lesson on the basics of interviewing for jobs and how to transition from school life to working life.

Leaders of the expo said that while the students still have a few years before making the big decisions, the expo is often their first opportunity to get a real look at potential careers.

“My primary message is ‘find out what you like.’ It’s okay to try things that you’re unfamiliar with to find out if it’s that great fit or not, because you’re not going to know until you try it,“ Lily Winter with Bolton & Menk, one of the hosts of the expo, said.

Meanwhile for the businesses involved it’s an opportunity to get a head start in recruiting the next generation of their industry.

“It’s really hard to find people in the agricultural community, so we feel a good strategy for recruiting is to get ahead of it and show these students that there’s actual careers in the agricultural field,“ Crystal Valley’s Jenny Krohn said.

The expo has been hosting local sophomores for nearly 20 years.

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