Networking

CareerVillage Partners with Dell to Produce TechWeek

• By Richard Chang
• 05/11/16

CareerVillage, a nonprofit that aims to help low-income students better prepare for their future, is teaming up with Dell to produce TechWeek, an online networking campaign from May 16 to 20.

Dell is giving CareerVillage $100,000 to aid in its mission, and the tech giant has also committed tens of thousands of its employees to provide advice and encouragement to students participating in TechWeek.

During TechWeek, students can post their career questions online at the website CareerVillage.org. Each question will be answered by a volunteer, who will likely be an employee working at Dell or other tech companies like LinkedIn, Google, Symantec and more.

More than 8 million high school students are in America’s lowest-income communities, according to CareerVillage, and they face a difficult challenge, since many don’t have the resources to receive advice or ask questions with professionals. A recent National Assessment of Educational Progress report said that only about a third of U.S. high school students are prepared for college-level coursework in math and reading, and the lowest-achieving students are performing worse than ever.

 “Students are flying blind,” said Jared Chung, executive director of CareerVillage, in a prepared statement. “They’ve gotten the message that there is a massive career opportunity in the tech sector, but without having met a real tech professional, students often don’t really know where to get started. We’re here to make access to career advice ubiquitous.”

CareerVillage — founded by McKinsey & Company alums — reached its 10,000th volunteer this month and its millionth student nationwide. Past partners have included LinkedIn and Zynga, which also provided free career advice online.

During TechWeek, educators can also download the TechWeek lesson plan and schedule time for students to participate. Working professionals may also sign up on the CareerVillage website to offer advice to students.