Business & Professional Skills Learning

Noir Black Business Clubs

In an effort to “Move Black America Forward”, Noir Black Chamber of Commerce Inc. has begun establishing Noir Black Business Clubs on college and university campuses across the country, As well as online platforms for high school, middle school, and elementary school clubs to engage black students in business education and professional skills earlier, in the hope, that it will lead to an increase in the number of successful black entrepreneurs and black corporate professionals over time and create economic and social mobility within one generation. Noir Black Business Clubs are open to all black students no matter which career path they are planning on taking and membership is free to all youth ages 9 to 24.

BENEFITS

Noir Black Business Clubs help students develop their social skills through positive interactions with peers, instructors, and Telementors, which leads to becoming successful entrepreneurs and corporate professionals. Students participate in a safe and supportive environment, which allows them to develop new interests in areas such as leadership, business, communications, critical thinking, and art. The clubs are led by an elected body of students, who learn how to govern, develop, and implement programs, while Telementors and volunteers provide guidance and support as they navigate challenges and make important decisions. Club members learn the importance of civics and civic engagement through volunteering and mentoring younger students. All in-person events and programming are supervised by trained staff, who ensure students are safe and secure while participating in activities.

Overall, Noir Black Business Clubs are a valuable resource for black youth, who are looking for opportunities to socialize, learn, and grow in a supportive and positive environment.

BUSINESS EDUCATION

As​ Black Americans retool after a year of racial and economic unrest and a fight for
equality and social justice,​ many are left with the realization that the “system” is not and will​ likely​ never be ​totally fair towards them.​ Therefore Black Americans must now rise up to the challenge of creating opportunities for themselves to move Black America forward. One way to do this is by encouraging black college students to learn basic business education, whether they are entrepreneurs or planning on working for a
corporation.

Because of formal business knowledge and training, white families have been afforded
the opportunity to pass knowledge down from generation to generation, which has led to continuous economic growth and wealth building that has led to white children enjoying “basic norms” of going to college without thinking about it; access to affluent corporate connections that lead to high paying careers; and easier access to financial institutions to secure business and home loans.

Noir Black Business Clubs were created to engage black college students and teach them business concepts, structure, development, growth strategy, and corporate etiquette that will lead to successful careers.

MENTORING

Mentorship is a crucial function of the career development process, and it is known to be significantly impactful to everyone involved. Mentoring is the process of an experienced person facilitating the growth and development of a lesser experienced person. Research suggests that for at-risk college students, such as BIPOC and first-generation students, “mentoring can be particularly vital to their persistence to degree” (Booker and Brevard, 2017). In addition, black students can get a substantial return on investment from engaging in mentoring, and we’ll highlight five key benefits of mentorship.

Gain Expertise

As the mentee, you will have access to the mentor’s wealth of knowledge, years of experience, and outside perspectives. In addition, your mentor is a person that you can ask questions about the profession, the skills that they use in their job, and how you can get started.

​Get Feedback

Your mentor can also be one of the people who will review your goals and help you process your progress to identify growth areas. Your mentor can provide you with insight because they’ll understand your development.

​Professional Growth

The mentor-mentee relationship offers a dynamic opportunity for the mentor and mentee to improve professionally. The mentee can learn from the mentor’s professional journey and gain insight into critical skills used along the journey.

​Personal Growth

Career and professional development coincide with identity expression. Who we are and how we identify culturally, spiritually, and personally affect our career development. Mentors who share in the same lived experience as the mentee offer perspectives that can help the mentee navigate challenges along the way.

​Networking

Networking is one of the most critical and essential aspects of career development. Establishing a productive and effective network is a best practice for any job seeker. The mentor can be the key to your next introduction, leading to many more. Mentors can vouch for your character, ability, and career readiness. It’s always great knowing that you have others advocating for you.

https://career.uconn.edu/blog/2022/02/25/5-benefits-of-mentorship-for-black-students/

INTERNSHIPS

Finding a job can be a challenge, especially if you don’t have experience. Unfortunately, you need to obtain a job before you can gain experience. Internships are a great way for college students, recent graduates or anyone considering a career change to obtain valuable work experience. Continue reading to learn eight benefits of an internship and find out how an internship can prepare you for the demands of today’s workforce.

Gain Valuable Work Experience
The hands-on work experience interns receive is invaluable and cannot be obtained in a classroom setting, making this one of the most important benefits of internships. Interns have the opportunity to apply acquired knowledge to real work experiences, witnessing firsthand the day-to-day job duties they can expect to encounter in their chosen field. In addition to learning the specialized skills of a particular field, transferable skills such as communication, teamwork, and computer proficiency are also obtained in an internship, fully preparing interns to enter the workforce upon graduation.

Explore A Career Path
Exploring is an important part of the college experience, and internships are a great way for students to acquaint themselves with the field they are interested in. Some students begin college with a major or career path in mind, and end up changing their minds later on. Taking on an internship while in college allows students to work in their desired field, helping them decide if the field is right for them. By graduation, students who interned are more likely to feel confident they chose the right degree.

Give Yourself An Edge In The Job Market
One of the most important internship benefits is that college graduates who already have some work experience in the form of an internship stand out to potential employers. Internship experience makes a college grad more marketable as they usually require less training and can handle more responsibilities. You may also receive a higher starting salary than those who do not have internship experience and are entering the workforce or starting a new career.

Develop And Refine Skills
You can learn a lot about your strengths and weaknesses during an internship. Internships allow for feedback from supervisors and others who are established in the field, and offer a unique learning opportunity that you may not have again as a working adult. Embrace the mistakes you make as an intern and the many things that you won’t know. Ask questions, observe, and take risks to get the most out of your internship training experience.

Receive Financial Compensation
Many internships are paid which means you can gain valuable work experience and make money at the same time. A paid internship will provide money to fund your college tuition and expenses.

Network With Professionals In The Field
In the working world, it’s all about who you know. As an intern, you will be surrounded by professionals in the industry. Internships are more than just about earning credit, getting a grade, or making money; internships provide an opportunity to learn from the people around you, ask questions, and impress. The professionals you encounter during an internship can be your future colleagues or the connection to your first job.

Gain Confidence
Internships allow you to test out specific techniques learned in the classroom before entering the working world. It’s an opportunity to apply what you have learned in a safe environment where mistakes are expected – rather than learn the hard way in your first job out of college.

Transition Into A Job
Many companies use internships as a way to enhance their recruitment efforts. In some cases, a company may decide to hire an intern at the end of the assignment. Even if a job offer doesn’t happen right away, an intern who makes a favorable impression could receive an offer down the line when an opening occurs. It’s a way for companies to test out an employee before committing to hiring them.

Both paid and unpaid internships benefit students in many ways.  The most significant benefit students receive is work experience.  They are also able to network with individuals that they can later contact when searching for employment after graduation. In addition, students may be able to earn college credit for their internships.

Internships.com, a Chegg service, is the world’s largest student-focused internship marketplace, bringing students, employers and higher education institutions together in one centralized location. Students will have the ability to access more than 190K internships from 117K companies all over the country for free. Internships.com provides a wide variety of interactive tools and services to enable every student, employer and educator to better understand and optimize internship opportunities, enabling businesses to identify the best job candidates and for students to develop the real-world skills they will need upon graduation.

You can check us out here: http://www.internships.com/student

BLACK TALENT

Black Americans live in communities that lack access to good jobs and quality schools and suffer from high crime rates. Black Americans are about twice as likely to be unemployed as white Americans. Black students lag in comparison to their white peers in educational attainment and achievement, and Black American communities tend to have higher than average crime rates. These issues have been a persistent problem, and jobs are essential to improving Black communities. Increased employment would significantly help individuals in these communities lift themselves out of poverty. Additionally, because poor economic conditions are an important causal factor behind poor educational outcomes and high crime rates are correlated with high unemployment rates, creating job opportunities would help improve educational outcomes and reduce crime.

 Workplace diversity is imperative to business success, but companies are having a tough time identifying, attracting, and recruiting Black talent to their companies. Diversity can be defined through a variety of lenses. Age, race, ethnicity, cultural background, gender, sexual orientation, and religion immediately come to mind, but have you considered educational background, managerial experience, neurodiversity, and even personality traits? Study after study reveals that the demographics of the American workforce are constantly changing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau traditionally underrepresented populations will hit majority status by 2024. At the same time, stark disparities exist within different sectors and management groups. As of 2018, women held only 22.5 percent of Fortune 500 board seats, and minorities only represented 16.1%.

 Workforce retention has employers facing growing challenges that vary by industry, location, and other differentiating factors, but rising employee turnover rates affect virtually all employers, and Millennials, who now make up most of the workforce, change jobs more frequently than previous generations. According to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics, the average turnover rate in the U.S. is about 12 to 15% annually. Furthermore, according to LinkedIn, an average annual worldwide employee turnover rate is 10.9%. Employers must develop innovative methods to attract and retain talent in their companies. The key to retaining employees is for corporations to offer them a career roadmap, which will help guide their career up the corporate ladder, and it will lead to long-term employment.

 Although this black talent corporate placement initiative is constructed around connecting corporations to black college talent, it is also focuses on workforce diversity and retention.