“You can’t get a job without experience, and you can’t get experience without a job.” This no-win dilemma, dubbed the “Catch-22”, is a predicament faced by many new graduates eager to join the workforce. Power Unit’s E3 Challenge, a business challenge especially designed for youth, offers 16-20 year olds the opportunity to work closely with real-life companies, develop leadership skills, and – contrary to the Catch 22 – get the experience without the job.

More and more often, students are catapulted into the workforce with a handful of knowledge and almost no practical experience nor the skills to present their knowledge in a convincing and thoughtful manner. Not only is this a headache for the students, but also a setback for employers who seek out candidates, only to discover these “high-caliber” recruits are in reality completely clueless. Nowadays, intellect is ubiquitous, but the difference between a good candidate and a great candidate are the soft skills that can be picked up through practical experience. The trouble with developing under strictly academic environments is that students often times fall into a mechanical, formulated process of approaching problems without understanding the problem itself. In today’s society, success lies not in possessing theoretical knowledge but in knowing how to apply and cater that knowledge towards the problems presented by a job. In such dilemmas, extracurriculars act as the perfect portal from the class room to the real world. With its mandate “Entrepreneurship, Excellence, and Empowerment” in Mind, the E3 Challenge strives to offer just that. The E3 Challenge starts off in the beginning of July with four teams of students ranging from high school juniors to university sophomores. The E3 Challenge is supported by a unique system of mentors. Each team consists of five members and three mentors who guide and support the team. Although the mentors do not get involved with hands-on tasks such as generating ideas and scheduling meetings, they carefully observe the team morale and how each member plays his / her part. Although E3 Challenge is business oriented, participants are able to gain valuable soft skills and experiences that apply to all fields. “Working on E3 gave me the motivation, opportunity and pressure to hone my communication skills and taught me the importance of responsible leadership. I would never have applied to Harvard without my experience with E3,” said Stephanie Tam, an E3 alumnus who is currently a second-year Architectural student at Harvard.

 Unlike many extracurriculars, the E3 challenge emphasizes personal development and growth over victory alone. That is why the mentors devote much of their time and energy to making sure that the distinct personalities of each member are being accommodated in a team setting.

THREE UNIQUE CHALLENGES, ONE IMPORTANT LIFE LESSON

E3 consists of three challenges each requiring solid team dynamics, creative problem solving, and strong leadership. The first challenge required the teams to create a game booth at Power Unit’s flagship event, Night It Up! with only $100 of start-up funds and 2 week preparation time. In the second challenge, E3 paired up with Special Event Boot Camp – an organization dedicated to training young professionals in event planning – to create a social media recruitment campaign that utilized tools such as Facebook and Youtube. The third challenge, in co-operation with IBM, gave E3ers the opportunity to create an HR campaign specifically targeted to university students looking for co-op placements, internships, and jobs. Contrary to many business challenges offered in school, The E3 Challenge offers youths a rare opportunity to interact and engage with executives of well-known corporations. There are no mock judges and no case studies – every challenge involves real problems and real managers who carefully analyze each team’s idea and feasibility. These challenges are built to emphasize the soft skills that are crucial to success in today’s workforce. Conflict resolution, public-speaking and networking are all skills required for success in such challenges and ones that many students often overlook. Above all else, The E3 Challenge strives to help youths find a firm sense of self, develop the inspiration to lead, and discover the passion to achieve something beyond the walls of academia.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 31st, 2009 at 4:24 pm and is filed under Special Event Boot Camp Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.