UNITING THE PROFESSIONALS OF AUSTIN

Program brings together a prime networking opportunity

By Eric Johnson

Over the years, Austin has worked to establish a strong and ever-growing business community.

That work has fallen to individual companies and entities, but is ultimately led by the Austin Area Chamber of Commerce.

A variety of programs and opportunities have been generated in an effort to continue strengthening business ties, but also draw more people to Austin. To that end, the Connecting Young Professionals program seeks to work toward all of these goals.

“The whole mission of it is to empower, connect and kind of grow the young professional network in Austin,” said Jaclyn Bird, president of the board heading the group. “We really wanted to focus on attracting young talent to the jobs, the opportunities, the events, everything in Austin and then retaining them too.”

The program acts as A major part of a base in order to really Connecting Young strengthen ties within the Professionals is the business community uti- social dynamic. lizing both social events as well as personal development and community service projects.

The group began in 2019, and enjoyed early successes before COVID-19 played its part. Despite good numbers, Bird said Connecting Young Professionals did see a drop when the pandemic anchored itself to our lives.

“We kept it going through COVID, which was a miracle,” Bird said. “We did a lot of virtual events. We lost a little bit of interest because it was the Zoom fatigue. We’re kind of getting back to in-person events and getting people out.”

Which is important, because for the Connecting Young Professional group to optimally work, it requires face-to-face interactions. Relationships are much easier forged when people can be together rather than through a computer monitor.

The group, as Bird explains, is open to those who are, “21 to 40ish.” We don’t put a hard cap on it. You know, when you turn 40, we’re not like, ‘okay, see you later.’”

“We do 21 just because we do events at breweries and bars and places like that,” Bird further explained. From left to right, the Connecting Young Professionals Board: Jim Koenig, Hormel Food Corps.; Varinh Van Vugt, Austin Welcome Center; Jaclyn Bird, Jaclyn Bird-Edward Jones and John Atoyebi, Austin Area Chamber or Commerce.

Photos provided

While the social aspect is important, the group is about development as well. Many of the events are geared toward certain areas in which members currently work in an effort to strengthen all corners of the business and professional community.

“Some events are going to be more tailored to a certain person or somebody that works at a company vs. somebody who owns their own company,” Bird said.

The group is also able to lean on the Chamber itself as a resource.

“It’s a program of the Chamber so we are able to use their expertise, which is very helpful,” Bird said.

Connecting Young Professionals has done a variety of community service projects in the years since it was established in 2019, including working with Spruce Up Austin, adopting a patch of area between Wescott Athletic Complex and Kwik Trip to keep tidy, as well as be part of clean-up projects throughout town.

But another large part of what they do is professional development. Making use of the skills of those in the group as well as going outside and bringing development opportunities in.

“I’ve hosted Investing 101 a couple times. We’ve had Kris Heichel come and do a Home Buying 101 type of thing and what does that even look like. We just did a health insurance one with Dan Sparks,” Bird said.

The third aspect of the group is networking opportunities. Those returning or new to town can use the group to meet others, not only socially, but professionally.

“When I came back, my networking was honestly just making connections with people

and making friends at first,” Bird said. “And then it works when you meet somebody who works at this company: ‘Hey we’ve hung out a couple times, what do you do? Do you enjoy your job? Hey maybe I want to work there at some point or vice versa.’” “We want to keep it light, but have that opportunity for people to make connections, and if they want to take it further they can,” she added. The group has even discussed doing an official networking event to build up that base and to expose people to other’s experiences as much as possible. An important aspect of that is finding out what professionals are looking for when coming to Austin. “We had a discussion last year with the City Council,” Bird said. “We had Mayor King, Oballa Oballa and a few other key players in the city. We sat down with them and they said, ‘so what do young professionals want?’ We are kind of that conThe Connecting Young Professionals group takes duit to the city and businesses that helps explain our needs part in a number of community service projects and what can you do to help us try to retain these young throughout the year. professionals.” If you are interested in joining Connecting Young Professionals, they can be contacted through the Austin Area Chamber of Commerce and you can join through one of the board members. There is also a Facebook page you can message at: www.facebook.com/cypaustin. P

“We want to keep it light, but have that opportunity for people to make connections and if they want to take it further they can.” Jaclyn Bird

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