10 Feb NYC Department Of Education And Partnership For New York City Launch City’s First Career Discovery Week, February 10-14

Thousands of tenth graders will spend a day at company worksites, learning about career opportunities

Today, the NYC Department of Education and the Partnership for New York City are launching the city’s first Career Discovery Week. More than 6,000 high school sophomores from approximately 140 schools will have the opportunity to learn about the diverse and exciting future job opportunities available to them in the city’s corporate, financial and cultural sectors.

Throughout the week, over 180 companies will host up to 100 students each for a full day of career exploration in one of the world’s most diversified employment markets.

Examples of Career Development Week activities include:

• ABM Industries and the 9/11 Memorial & Museum – A ‘back of house’ tour of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum offering students an inside look at the mechanical, engineering and maintenance services that ABM provides at this iconic New York City landmark. Students will learn how the critical work performed by ABM team members keeps the site pristine and accessible to millions of global visitors every year.
• Brooklyn Navy Yard – Site visits of the Steiner film studios, New Lab technology hub, Lafayette 148 New York luxury women’s fashion label and other Brooklyn Navy Yard facilities, as well as panel discussions featuring the CEOs of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Steiner Studios, Boston Properties and others.
• Deutsche Bank – A career panel hosted by the bank’s Multicultural Partnership and interactive sessions covering the “Future of Work” in financial services including AI, cybersecurity, ESG and key areas of expertise for the next generation of industry professionals.
• JetBlue – Immersion session in JetBlue’s command center in Long Island City, Queens, featuring a tour of system operations and Q&A with pilots and engineers.
• JPMorgan Chase – A workplace tour covering the bank’s many functional areas followed by financial literacy training, and social media personal brand exercises for career building.
• M&T Bank Corporation – Interactive career panel session with executives representing the major business lines for M&T Bank in NYC, followed by an interview workshop and branch tour.
• Macy’s – A behind-the-scenes look at Macy’s corporate headquarters and showrooms, where students will learn about how retail companies operate and how private-label fashion brands are conceptualized, designed and managed.
• PwC – Lessons in creative computing and technology delivered by a life-sized robot named CODE-E, as well as virtual- and augmented-reality experiences.
• The Shubert Organization – Students will tour a Broadway theatre and participate in panel discussions featuring leading industry professionals speaking about the wide variety of careers available in the theatre.
• Via– Students will participate in team challenges that give them the opportunity to develop creative ideas for new service launches, growth initiatives, and marketing campaigns that spread the power of on-demand public transit to communities around the world.
• Zurich Insurance – Students will participate in a case study based on Superstorm Sandy to develop an understanding of the variety of roles involved in helping customers before, during and after a natural disaster.

A full list of participating companies is available here.

New York City high schools from all five boroughs are participating in this year’s Career Discovery Week. Priority was given to schools in under-resourced communities that do not have strong existing relationships with employers. Schools have been matched with companies based on alignment between curricula and company sector; students from the Bronx Academy of Letters will visit Hearst to learn about consumer and business-to-business media; students from the Business of Sports School are visiting Peloton; students from the Theatre Arts Production Company School are participating in programming by the Shubert Organization.

The Partnership is working with Grant Associates, a national workforce development organization, to help facilitate Career Discovery Week. Grant Associates is acting as the liaison between each individual school and company to support employers in designing programming and implementing the event, and working with schools on all the logistical pieces needed to give their students access to these great career opportunities.

“Many young New Yorkers are unaware of the wide spectrum of good jobs that are available to them if they study hard and plan ahead,” said Kathryn Wylde, President and CEO of the Partnership for New York City “We hope Career Discovery Week will introduce students to new possibilities for their future and encourage companies to build stronger relationships with our public schools.”

“New York City employers are about to discover the untapped pipeline of talent in our high schools through Career Discovery Week,” said Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza. “This first-ever, week-long opportunity gives students the chance to learn from professionals across a variety of industries and gets them ready to fill the talent needs of the companies that make our city thrive. Congratulations to the students, schools and local employers participating in this innovative public-private partnership and thank you to our industry, labor, philanthropy and community partners from across the city for making this possible.”

“As employers, we are excited to partner with the Department of Education to help build a strong local pipeline of well prepared and highly motivated future job candidates, who are aware of the myriad opportunities available to them,” said William E. Ford, CEO of General Atlantic and Co-Chair of the Partnership.

“Working with local businesses to create opportunities for young adults to explore so many pathways during Career Discovery Week is a win-win,” said Doug Cotter, president of Grant Associates. “Not only is it perspective-changing—and in some cases life-changing—for the students, it gives businesses throughout New York City an opportunity to connect with their next generation of employees.”

Career Discovery Week builds on a 2018 research report developed by the Partnership and Oliver Wyman, which identified key ways business can work together to address some of the drivers of structural inequality and expand access to opportunity for all. Helping to close the opportunity gap for minority and low-income students was identified as a key area for collaboration.