BELLOWS FALLS-My name is Dylan Stewart, and I am a senior at Windham Regional Career Center studying business. On May 20, my class and I were able to attend the 2025 Southern Vermont Economy Summit at Mount Snow, which included a presentation regarding employment in southern Vermont.
Basically, Baby Boomers (a huge portion of the workforce) are retiring, and Gen Z doesn't seem to want to work. Businesses are complaining about not hiring the next generation of workers, but what are they doing to get our attention? After speaking with a panel of local business leaders in various industries, it was clear that not much is being done.
To attract the next generation of employees, companies need to invest in the next generation. Not just college students and graduating high school students, either. All children.
I like to compare job recruiters with sports recruiters. A person's love for sports usually starts at a young age, they play through elementary school, they find a love for it in middle school, and they foster their skills through high school. Why can't the same be done for jobs?
Get this - it can! In elementary school, kids form ideas of what they want to do in the future. Imagine if we invest in these kids' childhood passions just as coaches invest in their young athletes.
There are organizations like Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation's Pipelines and Pathways Program which work to connect Vermont students with local companies and colleges, typically through job fairs, to encourage them to invest in their future. They also work with individual students to set them up with internships, apprenticeships, and job shadows. The businesses at these job fairs show up multiple times a year to invest in the youth.
It's not a cakewalk. As a high school student, I can admit that the job fairs can be boring, but it's the act of showing up that means the most to us. Gen Z wants to be wanted. The first few job fairs are usually a drag for us, but then we see the same companies, and sometimes the same representatives, showing up year after year.
If you represent any business or any company, I highly encourage you to show up for your youth, wherever you are. Set up a table at a job fair. Send flyers out to schools. Speak at an assembly and talk about your business. Go into our classrooms and talk to us. Invite us to visit your sites. Mentor us. We have skills, and we want to use them.
Seek us out. Show up. Children are the future.
Dylan Stewart
Bellows Falls
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