JONESBORO — Cross County High School will host its annual Networking Night tonight (Tuesday) in Jonesboro. The event will begin at 6 p.m. at Harmony Gardens.
Wes Hooper, Director of College and Career Access at Cross County, said this year’s event will be the biggest one ever.
“If everything pans out, we have 100 professionals that are signed up to be there,” he said. “It runs the gamut, everything you can think of, doctors, lawyers, plumbers, electricians, linemen. We have four people from Frito-Lay who are excited about being there. Hytrol is coming. All of the factories are going to be represented tonight. It’s really a good time for our kids.”
Hooper said networking is often required to advance in your career.
“In order to get jobs, it’s mostly about who you know these days,” he said. “85% of people getting jobs is done through networking, whether that’s a social network like Facebook or LinkedIn is even very popular, or just I know this person and they know this person. It works out that way for us.”
Hooper said a lot of time is spent planning networking night, but seeing students succeed makes it worth it.
“It’s all worth it for this opportunity that we give our kids,” he said. “We know that this is going to expand their horizons. It’s going to give them things to think about that they’ve probably never thought about before career-wise. When they get to sit down and talk with somebody and see what it takes to actually takes to be in a certain career field or get to that location in their life.”
