The Graduate Gap

Chris Arias joined ACEL in 2010 after being forced to withdraw from his studies due to financial hardships caused by the 2008 recession. Arias says ACEL’s mentorship and marketing opportunities allowed him to gain enough “real world” experience to secure a job in his desired career field.

Chris Arias was a student heavily involved in school activities at Santa Fe College. He actively took part in Student Government and other extracurriculars while pursuing a degree in Business Administration. Just as Arias felt he was finally making a name for himself as one of this first in his family to attend college and receive a Bright Futures Scholarship, disaster struck in the form of the 2008 recession.

Arias was soon forced to withdraw from college due to financial hardships and faced the challenge of needing to secure a job with only a partially-completed education and no “real world” experience.

Luckily, Arias was introduced to a local group that specializes in providing resources and mentorship to aspiring young professionals. The Alachua County Emerging Leaders Program, or ACEL as called by its members, was established to “encourage the development of young leaders and engage them in community life by being connected, informed, and involved as a thriving community of and for young professionals.”

“It’s nice because it really allows you to bridge that gap between maybe an advancement in a career that you want but you don’t have enough on paper for it just yet,” said Arias, “It can provide those kind of opportunities if you get involved enough.”

President of ACEL, Marc Lefton, addresses the crowd at the organization’s local politician mixer. City Commissioner David Arreola seated by Lefton later spoke on the importance of maintaining involvement in local politics.

Arias explains that through involvement with ACEL’s Marketing and Communications committee, he was able to add “real world” experience to his resume, allowing him to secure a job in the marketing and technology industry.

Experience is just one of the many services ACEL has to offer to its members. Other opportunities provided by the organization include networking events with city commissioners, mixers with local politicians, marketing and resume clinics, as well as a mentor pairing program.

Natalia Artearga, a Public Relations graduate from the University of Florida, says ACEL’s mentorship program allowed her to build a relationship with professionals in her industry. “My mentor was the previous board member for marketing so she had at least a solid five years of experience working. She helped me look over my resume, gave me a couple tips about what I can do with my career and that sort of thing. So I think it’s a great opportunity, you know?” said Artearga.

ACEL comes as a great service to upcoming graduates of the University of Florida and Santa Fe College.

Chris Arias sits with Natalia Artearga to discuss marketing strategies for the Alachua County Emerging Leaders program. ACEL offers leadership opportunities on their marketing, professional development, community service, public policy, and social committees

Currently, the University of Florida’s employment rate for recent graduates sits at 70.9% and has seen a steady increase within the past few years. However, a national study conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that employers tend to rate the proficiency of recent college graduates lower than do the students themselves. This suggests that employers see skills gaps in key areas where college students don’t believe gaps exist.

The Alachua County Emerging Leaders Program is one organization that is working to ease the transition between the classroom and workplace environment.

Brooke Servek, a Fall 2017 graduate from the University of Florida, recognized the difficulty of this transition first hand.

“So after I graduated I thought I was definitely ready for the workforce but I quickly realized that was not the case. College gave me the tools I needed, but actually applying it and working with people in the workforce has been a completely new challenge,” said Servek, “That’s why I’m excited to actually get involved with ACEL because I think it will help me connect to mentors and other professionals.

President of the Alachua County Emerging Leaders organization, Marc Lefton, is setting a goal to ensure that the transition for young professionals into their career fields is one without an extensive learning period in addition to ensuring that recent graduates in Gainesville always feel like they have a community to call their own following their college experience.

Brooke Servek is a recent graduate of the University of Florida who experienced a hard transition from the classroom to the workforce. Brooke says groups like ACEL interest her because of the opportunity to get connected with other professionals in her field. ACEL regularly holds community events that introduce its members to prominent leaders

“We basically represent the interests of young professionals so we do that through keeping people connected, informed, and involved. I think the nice thing about Gainesville is that people are nice and it’s great to meet people, but it’s also like you want to meet the right people, and it [ACEL] just sort of accelerates your progress having a network here. You come to a couple of events and you’ll know a lot of people you need to know right away,” says Lefton.

The group plans to continue developing the skill sets of young professionals in the North Central Florida Community through their “Lunch with a Leader” series set to take place every other Wednesday of this month.