BE A MENTOR – Company Advisor

Mentor the Leaders of Tomorrow—Be a Company Advisor.

Register as a Company Advisor HERE.

Washington Business Week’s Professional Development Program offers leadership development and mentoring through the Company Advisor Experience. Prominent, high-growth companies have seen first hand the valuable skill sets their employees gained in just one week of collaborative, discovery learning. As an advisor, you will gain valuable management insights, expand your industry knowledge, grow your leadership capacity, and ultimately benefit your company and community in a priceless return on investment by bringing these skills back to your workplace. Serving as a Company Advisor is not only rewarding for mentorship of high school youth, but it is also a great leadership development experience for you as a professional! Encourage your company to send you and pay your way.

At Washington Business Week, high school students learn crucial life skills as they role play as industry professionals, launch a company, and solve real-world challenges, all guided by you—the Company Advisor.

In just five days, Company Advisors learn to coach, influence, delegate, empower, and sharpen leadership skills in a way that our participants describe as life-changing. Guide students to work as a team, run a company, and make real-world decisions. You learn firsthand how to lead a diverse team to success. It’s a hand-on leadership program like no other.

Teachers also have the opportunity of earning clock hours for time spent at the program.

Requirements

  • All Programs
    • Be over the age of 20 and have 3+ years work experience.
    • Must pass a background check.
    • Comfortable interacting with students and adults.
  • In-Person
    • Ability to make the 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in-person commitment of day program/Sunday to Friday commitment of overnight program.
    • Reliable transportation to program location – Tacoma or Renton, Washington.
  • Virtual
    • Ability to make the 8:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. virtual commitment of chosen virtual program.
      • Many teams find that they need to spend time outside camps hours in order to be successful in the competition.  We teach CA’s to create healthy boundries with their team but do encourage CA’s to be available to their students outside program hours within reason.
    • Attend virtual training prior to the start of camp. We strive to be very flexible in training – group training dates will be released shortly but we are always willing to do one on one training at a convenient time for you.
    • Virtual – Reliable access to an Internet connection and full time computer.

Questions or want to have a conversation before signing up?   

Contact WBW at [email protected].

CA Training Videos

  1.  WILE User Roles
  2. Company Advisors – Best Practices to Become an Effective Virtual CA
  3. Navigating Virtual Learning—What can WBW and parents do to support our students and each other during a Virtual Business Week?
  4. Company Advisor: Virtual Company Meetings
  5. Company Advisor: Speaker Presentations
  6. WILE: The Student Experience
  7. Company Advisors: Opportunities for CAs and WBW Admin to Connect during the program

 

Summer Company Advisors

5  days

Empower a team of 10–12 high school students to run a company for one week during the summer. Share your expertise, engage them in critical thinking exercises, enjoy a series of dynamic speakers, industry tours, and networking with other professionals like you.

Opportunities at both in-person and virtual programs in 2024.

International Company Advisors

 8 days (not including travel)

Educate a team of 10–12 English-speaking high school students in a global context. Share your expertise, engage them in critical thinking exercises, and provide feedback on the team’s mission, while developing your leadership skills in the process. International Programs are held in Poland.

2024 International Program dates are yet to be determined.

 

In-School Company Advisors

4–5 days

These community-focused day programs include the best components of the summer program in a short period of time at select rural Washington locations. Students attend our in-school programs as part of their graduation requirement.

Please look at In-School Program dates here

 

The biggest lessons learned at Business Week that I use in my job are the inter-personal/people skills—working together with lots of people, teamwork, dealing with disputes and opposite perspectives. It’s not only the students that leave with those lessons…the CAs and other staff learn new things each year too!

– Becky Allen, Company Advisor and Senior Financial Analyst, World Vision

FAQS

What does a Company Advisor look like?
Ideally, a Company Advisor candidate:

Possesses a sincere desire to mentor young adults and ignite their potential.

Is over 21 years old with 3+ years of professional work experience.

Wants to learn about group dynamics, inter-generational communication, and millennials in the workplace.

Understands the fundamentals of the business or industry they work in.

Is excited to network, meet new people, and have fun.

What is the time commitment?

Virtual programming begins at 8am and concludes at 3pm.

In-person day programming begins at 7am and concludes at 7pm.

In-person overnight programming begins on Sunday right before the program start date (for training) until Friday evening.

What kind of training will I receive?

Washington Business Week requires Company Advisors to attend one half-day training in June prior to the program, as well as a full day of training on campus just before the program begins (on Saturday).