During the fall 2022 semester, students in our Experiential Learning Center had the opportunity to work with Lakeshore Recycling Systems.

Lakeshore Recycling Systems, one of our College of Business’ most prolific partners, is a waste and recycling management company servicing multiple municipalities in addition to the entirety of the Chicago Public School system. Alongside sponsorship of several ELC teams and Business in Action courses, LRS also developed the College of Business’ Undergraduate Student Success Center in 2022.

The ELC team was tasked with creating a training system for onboarding employees with an emphasis on career development and leadership skills. The team focused on developing metrics by which LRS could measure new hire satisfaction using questions about manager and trainer availability. The team met with LRS drivers and learned about how LRS managers use positive recognition to reward standout team members, and incorporated positive recognition into their training plan.

“We overlooked LRS from a 30,000-foot view and started to ask ourselves what was missing and what areas needed improvement. After seeking these areas, we divided the segments up as a group and did our individual research…Leadership was a key area I believe our team excelled in. I felt supported by my teammates every step of the way.”

said Carson Olofson, an ELC marketing student.

Olofson is no stranger to the College of Business’ experiential offerings as he completed an IGNITE! internship with SunDog IT during his 2021-22 academic year.

“Throughout my IGNITE! internships I have been given puzzles and problems and have been asked to research and discover different ways to approach the solutions. During these experiences I learned how to fully understand the problem, identify methods of research, determine how to escalate and ask for help when needed, and finally how to report on complex problems in a way that someone walking down the street could understand.”

The team also developed a schedule by which LRS could implement their onboarding training plan, starting with a close-up view of the first day and week, and zooming out gradually to ongoing training months into a new employee’s tenure. A component of this program included using experienced employees as job shadow hosts — a personalized partner who could advise and instruct the new employee.

“This program will help standardize our onboarding process…The ELC team was great to work with and gave us practical, tangible ideas that can be implemented.”

said Shadeed Spence, director of strategy and transformation at LRS.

The experiences Olofson gained as an ELC student in the College of Business have had a transformative effect on his mindset as well.

“Both IGNITE! and the ELC have given me a clear introduction into the professional world… There was a level of nervousness starting my first internship, now there is a sense of pride knowing that I have gained the necessary experience from NIU to feel confident and prepared to make an impact in the real world. I have really started to understand the ‘why’ behind every business decision.”

If your organization needs external perspectives, extra research horsepower, unbiased recommendations and/or general business knowledge, engage our NIU Experiential Learning Center.

Email ELC director Jason Gorham for details at jgorham@niu.edu.