Career Success Inspires Students
Four young professionals working for the Illinois Farm Bureau family of companies took the hot seat as panelists on March 18 to answer questions from the upcoming generation of young professionals. The panelists told their individual stories of how they reached the current point in their careers, often not on a direct trajectory, and offered reassuring advice. Career Success Inspires Students.
“You don’t have to have it all figured out right now,” Madison Kimpling, a GROWMARK recruiter, told the nine 4-H and FFA members of the Youth Education in Agriculture Committee visiting IFB headquarters in Bloomington.
Likewise, Perry Harlow, who hails from a tiny farming community in Grundy County, tried a few careers until he found the one that fit his skills best and brings him joy. Loving his experiences in 4-H and FFA, he expected a long career as an ag teacher.
Instead, he landed in Washington, D.C., planning programs for a trade organization, although the timing was not ideal to become an event planner during the pandemic.
As for five years from now, Harlow, the IFB Young Leader program coordinator, said he sees himself still working for a membership-based organization.
“I love creating experiences for members and core memories for members,” he said.
The timing of the pandemic hit Hannah Spangler’s education years at the University of Illinois and later limited some of her activities as an IFB intern. But the western Illinois native attributes her experience in Cambodia for opening her eyes to possibilities.
She also considered a career as an ag teacher before becoming an IFB associate and working in different departments for the organization. When her communication skills were welcomed at FarmWeek, she accepted the job as the environmental and legislative affairs editor for the weekly publication.
The interest in becoming an ag teacher seemed to be a theme on the panel; it was something Noelle Neef considered when attending the U of I. She did a project about dicamba use that led her to Washington, D.C. in 2021. Neef worked in government affairs for the Illinois Soybean Association before being named IFB’s assistant director of energy one year ago.
Source: Career Success Inspires Students
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