A business can improve its image by taking steps to foster education in its local area, serve customers, and even enhance the lives of employees. As owners, managers, and leaders consider their options, they can try one of all of the five suggestions below. Each business has its own model, and adapting these suggestions to that model ensures success for everyone involved. Higher education, then, becomes a focal point for the business with varying benefits instead of an afterthought with little to no benefits.
Scholarships
As with Benjy Grinberg, scholarships are a wonderful way for businesses to reach out into the community. A scholarship can pay for a vocational training program, send a kid to college, or provide specific benefits for the recipient. When businesses create their scholarship programs, they can target anyone they like. For example, an IT company can offer scholarships for high schoolers who wish to study computer science or complete a technician training course.
Scholarships may also help students complete training that allows them to work for the company soon after completing their certification or college education. While a business need not promise a job to a scholarship recipient, they might use their list of winners to fill positions as needed. Additionally, scholarships can help pay for tools, supplies, and even living expenses while students focus on their studies.
Higher education leads to jobs
Higher education helps improve the local economy whether the business hires scholarship recipients or not. Higher education makes the community a nicer place to live, and parents or children can get a college education that might have seemed impossible. While the business pays a relatively small amount of money to help students achieve their dreams, those students obtain gainful employment, put money back into the community, and improve the overall quality of life in the area.
This can lead to students returning to the community to teach in local schools or open local businesses. Those businesses provide more jobs for the locals, and those jobs lead to higher rates of homeownership, healthier children, and lower crime rates. The business can even partner with scholarship recipients as they open new businesses or hope to invest in the community.
Internships provide needed experience
While higher education is important for the community, college courses and scholarships only go so far. Local businesses can provide paid internships for students who need experience and hope to bolster their resumes. This is a critical part of the higher education puzzle as students cannot obtain gainful employment and become contributing members of society if they do not have the experience required to apply for the best jobs.
A local business that can provide internships or apprenticeships can hire employees from that pool, but the business also benefits from the labor of these students, helps them learn, and allows them to be successful in the future. A program such as this may also help students work in a gap year while applying to graduate programs. For example, a student who wishes to study engineering has a better CV if they worked with a local engineering firm for a year before applying.
Partnerships improve the company’s profile
Partnerships with local colleges or universities improve the company’s profile and profits. On the one hand, the company receives positive press for every scholarship or job offer. At the same time, the business can hire from a local college or university that trains students the business prefers to hire.
A formal partnership helps businesses market themselves more effectively as local fans and alumni of that school gravitate to the business knowing it serves people like them. The college benefits because its job training or placement department can work with the business to quickly help students land jobs or internships.
When considering a partnership, do not be afraid to work with schools outside the local area as they may have a pipeline to the region that benefits both parties. This may be especially true if the school provides specialized training that is not readily available everywhere.
Educating employees makes the business better
When businesses wish to bolster higher education and promote learning, they should educate their employees as much as possible. Paying for employees to complete degrees or training helps the business invest in its staff, reduce turnover rates, and generate a sense of loyalty that cannot be found anywhere else.
The business might also qualify employees for promotions, ask them to complete training or college courses, and promote them when that training is complete. This is often the best way to retain employees and help them grow. Giving back to employees feels good, and it helps the business create a friendly atmosphere where employee morale is high.
Focusing on Education Works for Businesses
Focusing on education works for businesses because it allows them to serve the community, find great employees, and provide services to local students. Scholarships, like those offered by Benjy Grinberg, internships, and a host of other ideas can turn a business into an educational hub that helps people grow. Yes, the business grows as people learn, and the community improves as the local population gains an education and brings commerce to the region.
