If you are a recruiter or a founder who only hires the most tenacious, passionate, skill-savvy and EQ-minded new hires for your growing company, come to 1871 Auditorium this Thursday morning, April 21, for Startup Institute's Talent Expo.
In one hour your mood will soar, watching 23 future superstar employees in web dev, front end, UI/UX, digital marketing, sales, acct mgt, etc. pitch their passions and skill strengths to you in story-based, 60-second pitches.
It's fast, it's funny, it's serious, and it's damn inspiring.
The morning pitchfest is free to the public. Nope, it's priceless. Just sign up via this link to say you can be there.
What did these rockstars do to get here? First, they had to compete to be accepted into the program (86% of Startup Institute applicants don't make the cut based on admissions criteria). The spring cohort just completed intensive full-time instruction in one of four tracks - Web Dev, Web Design, Digital Marketing, and Sales & Account Management over 8 weeks. About 80 of Chicago's working professionals contributed hours of their skills and wisdom as part of our instructor community. And remarkable early-stage companies and organizations such as Black Tech Mecca, Luna Lights, GuardLlama, Orunje, Sage Corps, Schlep, Apt Amigo, Bottom Line Yoga, Tribe, and Downbeats sponsored in-depth work challenges to build apps, gather customer feedback, create personas, and sell new business. Each student also brings a deepened self awareness, skills and tools to support a collaborative work culture, and a set of fresh successes and failures. All of which makes their future hiring managers confident and happy.
Sprinkles on top? Tom Alexander will kick things off 1871 style, Abby Ross, co-founder and COO of ThinkCERCA will offer her wisdom and story to the crowd in a keynote address. After much deliberation, The Owl Award will be given to just one Startup Institute Alumnus who best represents our community's values of humility and paying it forward. Additional awards will be given to just five of the instructors who made the biggest impact during the spring program. And then, the pitches from the students! Mood. Lift!
See you there? You are awesome. See you around 9:45ish - the games begin at 10.
