Junior Achievement, JA JobSpark
A virtual careers expo for over 7,000 students.
Junior Achievement is the largest organization in the US dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their futures, and make smart academic and economic choices.
Specifications
Event Virtual JA JobSpark
Country USA
Industry Education
Participants 7,000+
Challenge
Our first collaboration with Junior Achievement brought thousands of American 8th-grade students in contact with 86 potential employers across eight key employment areas in the country’s Central Indiana region.
The virtual event, JA JobSpark, replaced the physical event for the first time in history because of the Covid-19 crisis.
Features
The virtual event featured:
Free-roam virtual event space
Secure access via logins
Break-out and VIP areas
Live chat function and help desk support
User-generated content, voting and feedback
Interactive live sessions followed by Q&A’s
Pre-recorded video content and resource content
Full engagement analytics reporting
The new event typology - JA JobSpark Virtual – represents a coalition of educators and industry leaders coming together to offer students the opportunity to learn about careers from industry representatives in time to begin planning for their high school course work and better preparing them for life after high school graduation.
11,000
Total virtual event visits
24/7
Help desk support
24mins
Average exploration time
Solution
To give pupils a sense of continuity, the first ever virtual event started with an animated fly-through showing the approach to the real, physical venue (Indiana State Fairgrounds) the event had traditionally been held in, before landing in a virtual event hall, where a map offers the choice of eight different career ‘clusters’.
Each color-coded 3D cluster represented one of these eight sectors and featured corporate logos on each wall. By clicking on any logo in any room, students were free to explore the video and PDF content provided by virtual corporate partners and learn more about careers in that sector. The goal was to inspire students to learn what careers are possible by sharing information on salary, skill levels and training requirements that would enable the students to make informed choices about their future studies.
For potential employers, various levels of participation and sponsorship were possible, including advertising on a moving banner advertising for those not taking on a full presence within one of the clusters.
The two-day event will be formally integrated into the school curriculum, with 24/7 access to the JA JobSpark Virtual Platform after the live event finishes, with corporate partners also able to add recorded presentations and videos throughout the year for expanded 24/7 student access.
