Reimagining Youth Workforce Engagement with Mobile Innovation

Watch how mobile-first tools improve responsiveness, streamline onboarding, support career exploration, replace outdated communication channels, and help youth programs manage caseloads and reengage participants.. Transcript below.

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Patty Ruland: Hello everybody who’s joining, and welcome to our Engage by Cell webinar session today. If you’d like, feel free to introduce yourself and the name of your organization in the chat window.

I see a lot of familiar names. We’re going to give it a few more minutes and let people start joining. We’ve got about another minute or two until our official start time. But welcome, and thanks for joining.

I’m joined here by my colleague Megan. She’s behind the scenes doing some housekeeping and so forth. She’ll also be feeding me some questions that show up in the chat window. Please feel free at any time to ask any questions that you might have.

I see Adriana’s joined, Sean… and again, Megan just introduced herself. This is going to be kind of all over the place today—hopefully in a good way.

For those of you just joining, I recently spoke at the NAWDP Youth Symposium with one of our clients. There were a lot of conflicting sessions, so some people indicated they didn’t get a chance to come. Some did come. We have some existing clients here on the call also. So this is going to be kind of a recap of what we presented at the Youth Symposium. I’m going to show some examples and talk a little bit about the services and the technological tools we offer.

I’ll give everybody another minute to join. It looks like Monica just joined—hi, Monica. I see Ashley, and Chelsea, and Chris, and Chris, and Dave, and… Gabrielle Thorpe, how are you? Dave and Dawn, Heidi, Jennifer… wow, we’ve got quite the crowd here today.

I’m going to give it about another 30 seconds, and then we’ll go ahead and get started. Maybe a minute more… hi, Gabrielle!

Great, let’s go ahead and get started. Again, welcome everybody. My name is Patty. I am with Engage by Cell. Some of you are familiar with us; for some of you, we might be new, but thanks for joining.

As I mentioned just a moment ago, this is kind of a follow-up on a session I did with one of our clients at the NAWDP Youth Symposium a couple of weeks back. So let’s go ahead and jump in and get started.

A little bit about Engage by Cell, if you’re not familiar: we are a U.S.-based company offering cloud-based solutions in the mobile technology space. We’ve been around for about 20 years, and we service all types of organizations, including workforce.

We have a dual platform, if you will. One is a mobile web app, and the other is a text messaging platform. You see a couple of stats there on the slide about our metrics and so forth. But the thing I want to highlight is that we are a human customer support organization. If you’re a client of ours, or you’ve talked with us in the past, you know we answer phones, we reply to emails, we’re not a bunch of bots. We’re here to help and here to make you as successful as possible.

Common outreach methods have not been working. This is what we hear from people day in and day out—specifically in workforce, and specifically dealing with the youth population. Phone calls, group texts sometimes, email, social media, phone apps… this is what people are usually using until they make that switch to actual text messaging.

We find that organizations have specific challenges in engaging the youth. One, they have limited funding or resources—and that could be funds, or it could be people. Everybody’s trying to do more with less now: smaller staffs and so forth.

They’re using outdated tools—specifically in text messaging—staff having to use their personal phones to connect with people because of the low response rate to emails and to calls.

I find it absolutely amazing. My generation, we’re phone people, we’re email people; we’ve adapted and we’re tech savvy, we text, and so forth. But the younger generations spend so many hours a day on their phones, yet they don’t use them for the main purpose of making calls, receiving calls, and so forth. Calls go unanswered. They don’t know how to set up voicemail, so they’re not even getting messages. These are some of the challenges, and I know a lot of it seems extreme, but it’s not as extreme as you think because I hear it every day from our clients— they just cannot reach the youth.

If you all want to pull out your cell phones and scan that QR code—I have my phone here with me too, I’m going to do the same thing—this is just a quick way to opt you into our text messaging platform. This QR code can be on signage, it can be sent in emails, it can be published in office windows to opt in to receive messaging, and so forth.

When you scan that QR code, you’re going to see the word “DEMO” show up. Your text messaging platform is going to open, you’re going to see the word “DEMO” show up, and all you need to do is press that send button.

Hopefully you received a message back that says, “Welcome to Engage by Cell’s demo. You will receive several text messages shortly,” and so forth.

For a new program participant to get information about your organization or opt into your text messaging, it’s as simple as that. That took all of about, what, 20 seconds or so? And now they’ll be put on a list and can receive text messages.

Text messages have an open rate of about 98%. It fluctuates somewhere between 97, 98, 99%, depending upon what study you look at. The point is, it has an open rate that’s significantly higher than email open rates, which, on a good day, average about 17–25%. And it’s definitely much better than the answer rate of a telephone call.

Our platform provides instant two-way communication. I can push out messages to hundreds of people, and then I can have one-on-one conversations with individuals also. If you notice, there was no need to create a password or go to the App Store or Google Play to download an app. The method of using QR codes is super simple and easy, and allows people to sign up instantly.

I mentioned I spoke at the NAWDP Youth Symposium with one of our clients, Atlantic County Workforce Development in New Jersey. They were facing some common challenges. They needed a way to engage with their youth. Their staff was using outdated tools. They weren’t getting optimal results from traditional follow-up methods.

They didn’t get company phones, so they were having to use their own personal devices. They were also having a lot of great hiring events—especially during seasonal hiring and so forth—where they weren’t able to disseminate information to their program participants as quickly as possible.

So they came to us. We set them up with our mobile web app and our text messaging platform. They were able to overcome the challenges of reaching people who didn’t have computers. Many young people today don’t have a personal computer because they can do just about everything on their phone.

They were able to onboard people faster, they were able to get employment verification quicker, and they were able to address the needs of individuals more quickly. Program participants could easily text their career counselor, ask a question, get an immediate reply, and so forth. They were able to provide better training and coaching.

One of the big things was that it improved the efficiency and transparency for their staff. We talk a lot about accountability. There’s often a lot of back and forth with “he said, she said” around program requirements, follow-up appointments, and things like that. Because our platform tracks and records every text message or communication piece that goes on, it’s easy to pull a record or a file. If something were to escalate, you can show that your staff has done the proper thing, said the proper thing, and so forth.

It’s also easily accessible for management. Management can go in and view all the communications that are going on. They can view the resources that are on the mobile web app, and so forth.

One of the big things they did after they started working with the platform was create a feedback survey. We all need to show data and statistics to continue to receive funding and so forth. They originally had a paper survey—they had copies in the office. Then they were emailing the surveys out, and they just weren’t getting responses.

So literally within a matter of five minutes, we created this short feedback survey on the mobile site. The questions were exactly the same as what they had been asking via email. They sent out a text with a link to that page for people to complete it.

Like I said, I built it in about five minutes. We were on the phone, we structured it, I uploaded it. I didn’t realize they had started using it right away, and when I went back into their account the next day, I saw they had responses coming in almost immediately.

The great thing about it is that the reporting and analytics we provide with the mobile app allow you to slice and dice all the data. Not only could they look at the entire feedback survey per individual, but they could also sort it by question. They got the overall big picture of how participants were answering certain questions.

Again, if you have any questions, feel free to type them in the chat box. Megan will feed those to me as they come in.

I mentioned Atlantic County Workforce. MassHire Greater New Bedford is another organization that we work with. Again, they were not able to connect with the youth. They needed to simplify their enrollment. They needed real-time reminders, last-minute hiring events, and so forth. Their statistics showed that they had better retention and stronger connections with their program participants after using our tools.

A lot of people will ask, “Why a mobile app? We have a website.”

Let me show you something quickly before we get into that. One of our very first clients in workforce development, years ago, was Middlesex County Workforce Development. They were trying to find a way to present their resources to program participants in a quick, easy, simple way.

If people Googled it, they’d get the Office of Workforce and Career Development on the county website. And it’s a county website—there are things about finding a park, taking a hike, doing business here, the government, meeting schedules, train station information, and so forth. So program participants were challenged, digging through a website trying to find what they needed.

We ended up taking their information and curating it into this nice little mini site, where they have information about their hiring events, their training, SkillUp Middlesex, their business services, and their youth programs. They subscribe to AI Mentor now, which helps develop résumés and things like that.

So when people ask, “Why a mobile app?”, it’s really about taking the resources you’re offering to your participants and packaging them in a nice, simple, easily digestible format. It really makes a difference. This can be saved on the participant’s cell phone. It will look and feel just like a regular app, and they have it to go back to as a resource.

If you get a moment and you want to scan the QR code I have on the screen, this is another example of one of our clients. I’m just going to scan that quickly here. You should have access to the U.S. Virgin Islands Job Center, another one of our clients.

I wanted to showcase this and have you all see it on your phone so you can refer back to it for different types of content ideas and resources. The thing I love most about this is the ability to upload your documents.

I just click on the “Upload Documents” tab, and here are all the documents I can upload—my résumé, for example. I tap on that, I snap a photo of my résumé, I upload it, and then it gives me tips about building my résumé, and so forth.

This is great for proof of address, or for programs that require income verification, veteran status, and so forth. Having a simple, easy way where participants can upload their documents is super helpful. Again, it’s all in one nice, simple place. They don’t have to go from site to site to site.

They also offer things like their hot jobs. We’ve integrated their calendar, so I can go on here and select a date and time that I want to meet with them and book an appointment right through here.

It has really increased their communication. It’s increased retention. People come back and check job openings, different hiring events that are going on, resources, training, and so forth. It really allows them to know exactly where they can find resources and easily access them.

Any questions or comments, feel free again to put them in the chat window.

A couple of things I just wanted to talk about are oversight and transparency. For your employees, no personal phones are required. Supervisors can monitor conversations at any time. It also protects your staff and the youth, with transparency, by having all communications recorded.

Implementation is super quick and easy. We provide brainstorming sessions, game-plan sessions, full training, and so forth. We help you roll this out, and the platform is able to scale to your needs.

Again, probably the number one thing is the reporting and analytics—being able to show engagement. Every time somebody clicks on one of those icons, it’s recorded. Every time they enter information or fill out a form or a survey, it’s all logged, tracked, and reported. SMS conversations are recorded for future reference. And most importantly, being able to show that data is probably the most important thing for your funding.

I went a little too fast to the Q&A slide—I’m going to hold off for now, and then I’ll open it—but I just wanted to show you some actual examples of our platform.

This is our text messaging platform. You can create your message that people receive when they first text in, and so forth. People can opt in, you can see your list of subscribers, and you can schedule and pre-schedule text messages to go out at specific dates and times.

You can also see some of the messages that our clients have sent out recently: “Stuff your plates and your future this season—check out our latest opportunities,” messages about veterans events, “Reminder: don’t miss this event,” and so forth.

It’s very simple and easy to create messages. It doesn’t require heavy lifting. It’s not like, “Oh, I have to learn another software.” If I want to send a text message, I simply hit “Schedule / Send Text Message,” type it out at the bottom, select a list I’d like to send it to, and either pre-schedule it in advance or send it on the fly.

I can control how many lists I have. A lot of our organizations will create text messaging accounts specifically for each of their career counselors, and then those counselors are able to send their own messaging to their specific lists.

So really, the possibilities are endless. It’s simple and easy to create meaningful communication—creating that back-and-forth communication, making it easy for participants and easy for your staff.

I wanted to keep this quick and simple, but I’ll go ahead and open it up to questions now, if anybody has them. I know this is kind of high level. If anyone is interested in going deeper, I’d be happy to schedule a demo for you. I just wanted to get it out there.

It looks like I have a question here: “What is the implementation timeline and cost?”

Pricing is based on a couple of different things: volume of text messaging, a platform fee, and then a text message bundle fee. Depending upon how much text messaging you plan on doing, that will have some impact on your costs. We do try to make it affordable for all organizations.

As far as implementation, it’s very quick. We submit your organization to get your 10-digit phone number—your texting number—approved by the carriers. That’s a quick turnaround process, and once we have that number in place, you’re pretty much ready to go as far as sending text messages. We do training with our client services team, and then our customer success manager goes over your overall game plan. In theory, you can start within a couple of weeks.

And thanks for your question, Adriana.

Any other questions from the group?

Oh, I love it when we see comments like this—if no one’s reading chat, I’ll share it. Heidi wrote: “Engage by Cell’s text messaging has been a huge asset in communicating with my clients. I love the ability to create text blasts and modify and manage lists. I’ve seen a huge increase in communication with clients since using Engage by Cell.” Thank you, Heidi—I appreciate that.

We pride our success on the success of our clients. If it’s making your job easier and you’re able to do more with less, we love that.

Chris had a question: “Do we get localized numbers they recognize?” Yeah, there are a couple of things we can do. When we set you up, we set you up with a local phone number—specific area code, and so forth. We also have another service where we can set up your main office number as a texting number. There’s a little process involved, but that’s something we can definitely do.

We have another question here: “We have more than one caseworker with different cell numbers—how would that work?”

They wouldn’t be using their own cell phones. We would provide a 10-digit number, they would have access to the platform, and they would send messages from the platform, not from their personal cell phones. Personally, I don’t think case managers should be giving out their personal cell phone numbers to people, just for safety and security reasons. So you could be set up with an account for each case manager to do their own messaging.

Another question: “Are there reminders to follow up with clients who haven’t responded?” Yes, absolutely. You can pre-schedule messages; you can send weekly messages, monthly messages. You can send messages every Tuesday for the next three weeks, and then switch to Wednesday. You can enroll people in sequences, so you have a lot of flexibility in the messaging that you send.

Another question: “Where do participants upload documents—on the Engage by Cell website?”

If someone is uploading a document, it goes into our platform, but you can export that into your own files—whatever you want. You can download submissions as a PDF or an Excel spreadsheet. You can then print and put them into a paper file if you still have paper files. The information initially goes onto our platform.

If you have a document-capturing system, depending upon what you’re working with, we can link directly to that. A lot of the things our clients include on the platform are kind of like portals to existing information. A lot of our clients use Metrix Learning and so forth. When a participant taps on that icon, it takes them to the Metrix Learning portal; they use their normal login, and it creates a gateway to that platform.

Another question: “Do we pay fees per user?”

The pricing, again, is based on the platform fee, how many text numbers you have, and then text messages. If by “per user” you mean your audience or program participants, then no. So if you’re a case manager and you have 47 people you work with, you don’t pay per user—it’s based on your text message bundle.

Heidi has another comment: “I also love the accessibility of Engage by Cell on site. It makes documenting cases extremely easy—copy and paste. Also, if I’m in the field, I can still access and communicate with my clients.” In addition to being able to access this on your laptop or desktop computer, you’re also able to access it through your cell phone. So if you’re out in the field and you need to send a message, you can log into the system on your phone and send it.

It doesn’t come from your personal cell number because you’re logging into the platform to send it—again, protecting your privacy.

Another comment: “We have our document upload set to go directly to the caseworker’s email, so no reports need to be run, and nothing is missing.” That’s great—case managers love that.

Another question: “Does the Engage by Cell platform function like a case management system, like Salesforce, where it reminds you to do follow-up or actions every day?”

We can do some types of integration into Salesforce. That’s something we could talk about during a full-fledged demo, where we can go into what you’re using, what information you need pulled, and so forth.

Another question: “Can you provide your bundle pricing?”

That really depends. I’d be happy to reach out to you after the call, Dawn, and share. Text message bundles are usually in increments of 5,000. We have smaller organizations that send out about 5,000 text messages a year. We have some organizations that send out almost a million texts a year. The range varies. Obviously, the larger the bundle purchase, the smaller the per-message price.

Another question: “Could you show the QR code again, the very first one?”

Yes, let me go back. This was the first one to opt in to receive the text messages. If you want to go ahead and scan that, please do. I’ll also send out this presentation. Like I said, we kept it real high level, but it’ll go out to you in an email.

Another question: “Is the app uniquely configured to the county’s needs?”

I’m not sure exactly what you mean by that, but it can be custom-branded—logo, look and feel. If you have a style guide, we can match that, and so forth. I’m not sure if that’s what you mean by uniquely configured, but we can definitely work with you on branding and layout.

Another question: “How does this app protect PII when documents are uploaded?”

We have an entire security document that I’d be happy to send to you, with all of our compliance information. As I mentioned, we’ve been in the workforce space for—oh gosh—over 10 years. We’ve dotted our i’s and crossed our t’s as far as security is concerned. We work with organizations across the country, capturing that information. I can send you any of our compliance documentation that you need.

Okay, it looks like we are about at time right now. Again, I know it was a little hectic and chaotic, jumping from here to there, but I just wanted to follow up with folks who didn’t get a chance to check us out in New Orleans.

I would be happy to schedule some one-on-one time to go deeper into the platform—more about content, more about the capabilities of text messaging, and so forth. If that’s something you’re interested in, we’ll send a follow-up email and see if you’d like to connect.

Otherwise, I want to thank you all for joining us today. It was nice to see some familiar faces and make some new friends as well. If I can be of any assistance, once again, please feel free to reach out. My contact information is here, but we’ll also reach out afterwards to send out the presentation and so forth.

So thanks, everybody, and have a great day!

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