Students seeking a career made personal connections with potential employers July 19 at the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s most recent HR Forum.

Rue Ramsey, the Chamber’s vice president of workforce and talent strategies, spearheaded the 90-minute luncheon, which featured a sold-out crowd of 23 interns/fellows and human resources professionals from 31 local companies.

Ramsey focused on the future of workforce and discussed the Chamber’s workforce initiatives.

“I want you to know that I’m busy working on making sure that we have a qualified, prepared workforce for you when you have open roles,” she told employers.

Ramsey’s updates included the expansion of Tulsa’s NextGEN Talent (TNT), a Chamber initiative that places Black juniors and seniors from area high schools into local companies for career exploration.

Earlier this year, TNT for the first time accommodated college students, meeting in April with campus leadership and career services personnel at four Texas universities: the University of North Texas-Denton; University of North Texas-Dallas; University of Texas-Austin and University of Texas-Arlington.

The program’s other speaker was Dr. Sarah Wyatt, director of strategy and operations for the Tulsa Higher Education (THE) Consortium. She elaborated on the consortium, a collaboration of eight higher-ed institutions in the Tulsa area that seeks to generate more job candidates with bachelor’s degrees.

Wyatt also updated the group’s tuition assistance benefits list, which has grown to 60 Tulsa-area employers. The mutual benefit allows students financial assistance while completing a degree, providing employers with an educated workforce.

Toward the end of the program, students moved from table to table, speed-dating style, to meet with the all the HR representatives in the room.

Ramsey closed by offering counsel to those on the career path. She preached, among other things, patience.

“Employers want to elevate and they want you to move up,” she said. “…But what they want to see is your skillset, your growth. They want you to be able to understand the company culture, the company language and what the company is doing. It takes a little longer to learn those things before you move forward.

“When you go into a role, think 18 to 36 months. (Think) I’m going to learn everything I can. I’m going to be open and do everything that comes my way, and I’m going to do more than what is required. Then, I’m going to be ready to apply for something more.”