Sponsorships

Sponsorships are agreements between employers and high school students to build a future workforce while helping students with the cost of education.

Think of them like scholarships, but with a career attached!

Employers: How to Offer a Sponsorship

Students: How to Apply for Sponsorship

How a Sponsorship works

An employer pays for a specified amount of a student’s postsecondary tuition (anything from a small amount to full tuition) in exchange for a work agreement, a promise by that student to work for the company for a set amount of time.

These agreements are an outstanding way for employers to make a difference in the lives of students by helping with their tuition, fostering a long-term career path at your company, and showing that you are invested in their future.

Sponsorships are available to employers through our Connections Package. There is no cost to students.

Benefits of a Sponsorship

We often refer to sponsorships as win-win.

A student wins by reducing or eliminating debt and securing a job they love for after graduation. They can also have valuable work experiences with a company while in high school or post-secondary school (i.e. work-based learning). This will help both parties identify if the match is a good fit for a longer-term relationship.

Employers win by helping a future employee attain the exact skills and education needed for a career at their company, usually partnering with a post-secondary institution that will teach the skills the employer needs. Due to the agreement, attrition is lower. The overall return on investment (ROI) of a sponsorship is better than traditional hiring methods. This is true even with the cost of covering partial or full tuition. Savings can be anywhere from 15-30% over the course of an employee’s career with your company.

Sponsorships in Compass

Sponsorships are connected with Career Profiles in Compass, our online career development tool. It’s easy for employers to indicate which careers include a sponsorship. It’s just as easy for students to search for careers that include these opportunities.

Golden Path actively guides students throughout the sponsorship process by matching them with opportunities, connecting them with employers, and encouraging them along the way.

Employers: How to Offer a Sponsorship

Offering a sponsorship is an effective way to build your future workforce with talent already trained and educated in the skills needed for success at your company. By offering a partial or full scholarship to a college, university, or technical school, you can provide a high school student with a life-changing opportunity and grow your workforce.

How to Fund a Sponsorship

We can help you find funds to help support your sponsorships. The ND Career Builders program, for example, provides matching funds for in-demand jobs in North Dakota. ND Career Builders is a workforce development tool for businesses to recruit and retain employees within North Dakota. Up to $8,500 in matching dollars are available for each student scholarship, which your company can use to cover the cost of a sponsorship. Similar programs exist in other states, along with programs for specific types of careers. We can help you identify what’s best for you.

Employers: Steps for Offering a Sponsorship

Here’s how to get started offering a sponsorship at your company:

1. Create a Compass account with at least one Career Profile.

(You can offer sponsorships for more than one!) You use this Career Profile to offer your sponsorship within Compass.

2. Decide if you want Golden Path to manage the process.

Golden Path can manage your sponsorship process for students. With our agreement process, we’ll stay in touch with your sponsored student during college and ensure they are well prepared for their first day of their career with you. Thanks to our established process and partnerships with most local colleges, you can be confident that your company and your sponsored student will get the support they need.

3. Determine the sponsorship details.

Golden Path can help you work out the specifics of your sponsorship. How much tuition coverage will you provide? Will it be in the form of a scholarship or loan reimbursement? Also, how many years will it cover?

4. Students follow a consent process in Compass.

This lets us know they are interested in a connection and/or a sponsorship. Students or their parents approve of sharing profile information with employers like you.

5. Golden Path then contacts these students.

We reach out and learn more about them, including their future plans and interest in a sponsorship. When we find a good match for you, we request their permission for an introduction.

6. Golden Path reaches out to you.

We send you a brief overview of the student, their skills, background, and future goals. From there, you can decide if you want to meet.

7. If Golden Path is managing the sponsorship:

We arrange a meeting and give both parties a chance to learn about each other. If it’s a good match, we facilitate the signing process with everyone involved. We help the student with their application and financial aid. We help you find programs that assist with the cost of tuition, such as ND Career Builders.

8. If Golden Path isn’t managing the sponsorship:

You work directly with the student to complete the process. You stay in touch with the student throughout their post-secondary education. If desired, you offer the student additional work experiences along the way. Following graduation, you offer the student a job knowing they have the skills and training to succeed.

Students: How to Apply for a Sponsorship

Reduce Tuition Costs

A sponsorship establishes a relationship between you and a company that will help you find the right school for the program, certification, or degree needed for your future job. Employers are often very familiar with regional school offerings that best support their careers and can make clear recommendations for you, ensuring that you’re not wasting time or money at a school that won’t get you where you want to be.

Form a Relationship

A sponsorship also establishes a relationship between you and a company that will help you find the right school for the program, certification, or degree needed for your future job. Employers are often very familiar with regional school offerings that best support their careers and can make clear recommendations for you, ensuring that you’re not wasting time or money at a school that won’t get you where you want to be.

Learn About a Career

Finally, sponsorships take the guesswork out of choosing a postsecondary program by matching you with a company and career before you start higher education. You’ll save time and money by learning more about the career in high school, seeing that career in action, meeting people working in the role, and perhaps even having a work-based learning experience like an internship or co-op. You won’t finish a program and then realize it’s not what you thought it would be.

Students: Steps for Applying for a Sponsorship

Here’s how to apply for a sponsorship:

1. Create your Compass account and update your profile.

Use your school-specific Compass URL to create your Compass account, or connect with Compass through RUReady.ND.gov if in North Dakota. Update your profile with your classes, activities, hobbies and interests, and personality assessment results.

2. Set “Connect Me to Employers” to YES.

To participate in sponsorship opportunities, you must set this option in Compass to YES. This will enable Golden Path to view your profile and connect you with employers offering sponsorships. If you are under 18, you must follow the consent process that pops up in Compass.

3. Browse Career Profiles that include sponsorships.

Compass will match you with suggested careers and opportunities based on your student profile information. Use the filter options in Compass to browse Career Profiles that include Sponsorships as the Offering. Show your interest in those companies by selecting the “checkmark.” We’ll follow up with you to share more information.

4. Stay in touch with us.

The Golden Path team will also view your profile and reach out to you directly with any sponsorships that look like a good match. We will ask for your permission to share your information with the employers and begin introductions.

Please watch your email for messages from Golden Path or Compass and stay in touch.

You can also download the new Compass mobile app to receive notifications of new opportunities.

5. Meet with an employer about a sponsorship.

If selected for an interview, you will meet with an employer to discuss the sponsorship and your qualifications. Dress professionally, show up on time, prepare a short list of questions, and be able to speak about your skills, career goals, and education plans. Thank them for their time. We’ll help you with the process.

6. If awarded a sponsorship, sign a work agreement.

If you are awarded a sponsorship and you agree to it, you will meet with the employer again to sign the work agreement and discuss any final details. We can help support you throughout this process, so be sure to reach out to us at info@goldenpath.net with any questions.

Follow up your agreement with a thank you note by mail or email to the employer.