How To Market Job Corps on a Budget

2. How To Market Job Corpson a Budget Jessica Darden

3. How To Increase Enrollment • Increasing enrollment is the top priority right now. • Take advantage of the resources already at your fingertips. • Here’s what we’ll cover: • Engaging your current students • Building community relationships • Using the FREE Job Corps materials and submitting to the national Facebook page

4. Start With Your Students • Your best spokesperson: Someone who’s participated in the program. • How to involve current students: • Initiate a refer-a-friend program. • Launch a recruitment tour. • Have them share their stories with the community.

5. Refer-a-Friend Program • Do students know people who would be interested in the program? • Empower students to reach out to friends and family: • E-mail • Mail • Facebook • Offer incentives for those who refer new students.

6. Launch a Recruitment Tour • Move off campus: Engage your current students and recent graduates with the community and with potential students. • Arrange for them to share their individual Job Corps stories at: • Local community centers • Shelters • Shopping malls • Public housing developments • Community organizations • Set up a booth with materials.

7. Launch a Recruitment Tour, Continued • Give your students the resources to share both the Job Corps story and their personal experiences: • Materials • Public speaking tips • Practice and encouragement • Check out the How To Market Job Corps on a Budget instruction guide at www.mpf.com/jcmaterials/materials?xtags=community-outreach-materials.

8. Involve Students in Outreach Presentations • Take one or more students to outreach presentations. • Invite them to share their individual experiences in a more formal setting. • Prepare them to speak and answer questions about the basics of Job Corps.

9. Involve Students in Outreach Presentations, Continued • Assemble a JC 101 toolkit that can be customized for every meeting with current or potential community partners: • JC 101 PowerPoint • Recruitment brochures, posters, fliers • Targeted marketing materials • Overview of Job Corps video from the Center DVD • Center-specific materials • Download all of these pieces free from the Materials Marketplace (www.mpf.com/jcmaterials).

10. Leverage Local Media • Local newspapers and television and radio stations are powerful resources for sharing information about Job Corps with the general public. • Involve your students and center staff. • Remember to share your media plans with your center director and regional OPA representative.

11. Involve Community Leaders Engaging community leaders and organizations is a great way to reach out to potential Job Corps students and their influencers.

12. Establish Community Partnerships • Possible organizations: • American Job Centers • Youth groups • Community colleges • Hispanic organizations • Foster care agencies • Shelters • High schools—guidance counselors

13. Share the Opportunities, Benefits of Job Corps • Write letters about opportunities available at Job Corps. • Set up in-person meetings: • Individual or • On-center luncheons for larger audiences. • Always take Job Corps materials to leave behind.

14. Become a Community Resource • Share center staff members as industry experts. • Hold seminars for the community on relevant topics: • Employability skills • How to write a resume • Basic car repair • Health care tips

15. Be a Good Neighbor • Offer your center’s gym or fields free of charge to local sports leagues and camps. • Invite the public to your center for events or open houses. • Host roundtable discussions about community issues. • Be an engaged member of the community.

16. Build on Current Successes • Call on employers to help share your benefits and training opportunities. • Share information about your center’s community service projects. • Take pictures and tally total hours. • Send a news release with photos to local media outlets.

17. Use Your Marketing Materials Order at no cost Job Corps marketing materials on the Materials Marketplace (www.mpf.com/jcmaterials).

18. Distribute Materials in the Community • Distribute to locations and businesses frequented by young people: • American Job Centers • Beauty salons and barber shops • Shopping malls • Hospital or doctors’ office waiting rooms • Public transportation depots • Leave a business card or a specific person’s name for follow-up.

19. Send Materials to New Contacts • Provide new contacts with a small quantity of fliers, posters, and other recruitment materials. • Ask them to post these materials and share them with anyone who might be eligible for Job Corps.

20. Use Your Targeted Marketing Materials • Distribute customized marketing materials in places appropriate to specific audiences. • Examples: • Deliver Spanish recruitment materials to local Hispanic chambers of commerce, Hispanic media outlets, and community centers. • Leave female-specific recruitment materials at day care centers, women’s shelters, or public health clinics.

21. Job Corps Facebook Page MP&F posts new information, photos, and links to www.facebook.com/doljobcorps every day, and we are always looking for content.

22. Job Corps Facebook Page, Continued • The more information you submit to jcfacebook@mpf.com, the more likely your center and region will be featured. • All of the tips mentioned earlier will make great Facebook posts—share with us!

23. Additional Resources • “How To Market Job Corps on a Budget” information guide—an overview and more in-depth tips to support enrollment efforts • Find it on the Job Corps Materials Marketplace (www.mpf.com/jcmaterials). • Contact MP&F for other customizable materials: • News release templates, • PSA scripts, • Ads, and • More.

24. Need More Assistance? • Call us at (615) 259-4000. • Or e-mail your MP&F representative. If you’re not sure whom to contact, check out the Job Corps Materials Marketplace regional information page: www.mpf.com/jcmaterials/regional-information.