Courtesy / The Landing School Facebook Page
Students remove a boat from its mold in the Landing School’s composites shop.
March 18, 2021
Landing School finds innovative way to connect students with employers
PHOTOS / PETER VAN ALLEN
Scenes from around the Landing School include wooden boatbuilding and even a surfboard build.
In an effort to help students launch their careers when they graduate, the Landing School in Arundel has dedicated a section of its website to videos and resumes showcasing its student body.
A new web page includes clips of each participating student discussing their ideal jobs and experience, and features each student's resume. The labor pool spans the school’s areas of studies — composite boatbuilding, yacht design, wooden boat building and marine systems, as well as a page for independent study students.
Click here to see the page.
The page was created with pandemic-related restrictions and interview challenges in mind. The videos combined with student resumes are designed to showcase each student so potential employers can get a sense of whom they might want to talk to, according to a news release.
The school already provides job-search counseling and resume reviews. But the new page is designed to give students an extra leg up, especially during the pandemic.
“I rely on our network of alumni to support student’s as they start a career, but these new video and resume pages are going to provide them with even more of a leg up,” said Jamie Houtz, the school’s industry liaison who maintains contact with the school’s approximate 1,500 alumni working in the industry. “For any future employer, it’s well worth the time to click through some of these videos.”
A page was also created for employers to post job openings for free. Click here to view the page.
The Landing School is a post-secondary marine trade school. Early in the pandemic, it pivoted to continue training students remotely. Wooden boatbuilding students received construction materials at home so they could continue to practice hands-on skills.
Promoting students
Overall, the school enrolls between 50 and 80 students per school year, ranging in ages from 18 to 57. The school typically has a 95% job placement rate.
The idea for a combined video and resume platform came after the school was forced to shut down a year ago due to the pandemic, Houtz told Mainebiz.
“We were thinking, How can we promote the students?” he said.
Just posting their resumes didn’t seem adequate for presenting students at a time when they couldn’t meet prospective employers in person, he said.
“We miss doing that because we’re such an experiential school,” he said.
So the school contracted with Portland media firm Softshell Productions to shoot the clips.
The school’s communications and marketing director, Sarah Devlin, helped cut costs by handling sound and some of the editing.
“She’s done this before,” noted Houtz.
Initially, the school considered reaching out to industry sponsors for funding. But it seemed like that process would take too long, given the pressure to start connecting students with employers, said Houtz. So the project was financed in-house.
Herding cats
Out of a class of 52, four or five didn’t want to do it at first. But by the time everyone else was almost through, they got most of the stragglers onboard with the idea.
Production started in early November, with videos posted as they were completed.
“It was a lot of herding cats,” Houtz said with a laugh.
Part of the problem was that many students froze in front of the camera.
“Sarah did a lot of hand-holding off to the side,” he said. “The camera crew kept them extremely focused.”
The goal was to shoot 45 to 60 seconds of tape and then edit it down to about 15 seconds. “In general, it all came together well,” he said.
The next step was to help students get together their resumes. The concept depended on having both videos and resumes that tied together rather than just one or the other, he added.
“One of the points was to be sure employers could see and hear our students and what they’re aspiring to become,” he said. “They’re talking about it in a positive way — what they want to become, where they want to fit into the industry, what their interests are.”
The school is marketing the page to employers by sending links to multiple industry associations and directly to human resources at various companies. For example, a large company called Safe Harbor Marinas owns over 100 boatyards and marinas.
“So right off the bat, there’s a big pool,” said Houtz.
The initiative took place while the students are still in the midst of their education programs, so there’s no solid data yet on results. But industry feedback has been good, said Houtz.
“They enjoy being able to ‘meet’ the student or future employee,” he said. “A couple of students have been offered positions from that and interviewing over the phone.”
Students essentially sell themselves, he added.
“They have an incredible experience and a very good education here,” he said.
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