Recruiting Professionals To The Area: What Works, What's Next?

About the Guest:

Eric Proctor is the Chief People Officer at Blanchard Valley Health System. Eric relocated from North Carolina to Findlay and advocates for effective recruitment strategies and collective community promotion to attract talented professionals to the region.

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Chamber Amplified from the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce, Doug Jenkins interviews Eric Proctor about strategies to enhance employee recruitment in Findlay and Hancock County. Discussing personal insights and professional methodologies, the conversation revolves around making the area an attractive location not only for individual professionals but also for families.

Eric shares his own recruitment journey from North Carolina to Findlay, emphasizing the importance of creating a welcoming environment and leveraging the community's charm to attract new talent. The episode delves into the collaborative efforts needed between local organizations, businesses, and community initiatives to spotlight the benefits and opportunities Findlay offers. The discussion also touches on the importance of storytelling, cultural diversity, and partnership to convey Findlay’s unique value proposition.

Key Takeaways:

• Importance of Community Appeal: For effective recruitment, it’s crucial that Findlay feels like home for new hires and their families, ensuring a supportive community and environment.
• Collaborative Storytelling: Sharing authentic stories of both long-time residents and newcomers can effectively convey Findlay's value as a place to live and work.
• Diverse Cultural Reach: Acknowledging and embracing international ties through businesses and cultural activities enhances Findlay's attractiveness and diversity.
• Recruitment Strategies: Initiatives like the trailing spouse program can offer substantial benefits in attracting and retaining professional talent by addressing family employment needs.
• Leveraging Local Assets: Highlighting Findlay’s broad offerings, including dining, education, and cultural activities, supports robust community branding and recruitment efforts.

Resources:

• Find Eric Proctor on LinkedIn (LinkedIn Profile)

Music and sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Transcript

0:00:00 - (Doug Jenkins): Coming up next on Chamber Amplified, I.
0:00:02 - (Eric Proctor): Would like for, you know, anyone who receives a call from a recruiter who gets the same question that I did, you know, that hears that question. Have you heard of Findlay Ohio? That they can answer it with a resounding yes. And you know, they've heard it from their friends. They've heard from people who have moved here to this community.
0:00:20 - (Doug Jenkins): Hello and welcome to the show. I'm Doug Jenkins from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. On each episode of Chamber Amplified, we're examining issues impacting the local business community. From employee recruitment and retention, marketing, it issues. It's really anything that can impact your business. Our goal is to give our members tips each week on at least one way they can improve operations and thrive in the current business environment, as well as to give a heads up on what's going on in the business community so you can be active in some of the things that are happening. That's kind of where we're going today.
0:00:50 - (Doug Jenkins): We're talking more about employee recruitment and retention on the show today, more specifically recruiting professionals to the area and their families. That's a big part of the equation. It's certainly one thing to get someone interested in a job here, but it's another to make sure that Findlay and Hancock county feel like home to them and again, their families. Eric Proctor is the chief people officer at Blanchard Valley Health System and joins me to talk about how he was recruited to the area and why Findlay felt like home to him when they went through, as well as his very pregnant wife. More on that in a bit, by the way.
0:01:21 - (Doug Jenkins): They came to do a tour, felt like home. What did that, what did the trick? Well, we're gonna talk about that as well as what the health system is doing along with other and organizations to try and bring more professionals to the community to help fill job vacancies. Again, thanks for tuning in. Remember, if you're listening on Apple podcasts or on Spotify, you can rate and review the show. It really does help spread the word.
0:01:41 - (Doug Jenkins): Now let's get into it. You've experienced this process yourself in coming to Findlay from outside the area. So let's get, let's start there. What was it that made Findlay an attractive location for you not just professionally, but for your family as well?
0:01:58 - (Eric Proctor): Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, I think back, gosh, it's been about two years, maybe even to the day. Two years ago when I got a phone call back in North Carolina and it was a recruiter on the other line and she said have you ever heard of Findlay, Ohio? And I think at the time I said yes, because I was already starting to embrace this concept of Midwest. Nice, right? So I said yes, but, you know, I looked into it and I didn't have it on my radar at the time.
0:02:25 - (Eric Proctor): And I said, you know, let's explore. Let's. Let's see what they have to offer. And I remember telling my wife, you know, let's go and we'll find a reason not to do it. We'll find a reason not to join Blanchard Valley. We'll find a reason not to move to Findlay, Ohio. And so we came for our recruitment trip and we never found that reason. And then two years later, we still haven't found that reason. So here we are. And, you know, I would say we just found, you know, an incredibly welcoming community with a lot to offer.
0:02:53 - (Eric Proctor): You know, it may sound cliche, but it's definitely about the people. The other people here are just fantastic. And, you know, it's really just been a great place to come and to start to really raise our family here.
0:03:04 - (Doug Jenkins): And the nice thing is we get like huge southern humidity here every once in a while during the summer too. So, you know, you feel at home a little bit that way.
0:03:12 - (Eric Proctor): Absolutely. Well, and it's funny, you know, sometimes people ask me, you know, why did you move from. From North Carolina to Findlay, Ohio? And I said, well, you know, I think people are going the wrong direction if they're moving from Ohio to North Carolina. I think more people need to be coming from the south up here to the Midwest, up to northern Ohio.
0:03:29 - (Doug Jenkins): What along the way, what stood out as roadblocks and what stood out as things that actually helped you make the decision?
0:03:38 - (Eric Proctor): Yeah. You know, for me, it all, it all goes back to the people. I remember our pediatrician back in North Carolina when we told him that we'd be moving on and moving into a new community, he said, well, I'm from Ohio and Ohio people are the best people that you'll ever meet. And, you know, that's certainly true. And I'm, you know, so blessed to get to work with the people of Blanchard Valley health system.
0:03:59 - (Eric Proctor): But I think also, you know, for us, it's the proximity to some of the larger cities while still having the convenience of a local small town community. So we love it. We love, you know, the proximity to the lakes. We like the river here in Findlay, so just a lot to offer.
0:04:15 - (Doug Jenkins): We like the river when it behaves for sure. That's right. Right when. So obviously you have a very positive story about how this came together. How do we then. And I know this is something you're looking at doing. How do we take a story like that and push it out there so more people understand what's going on in Findlay and Hancock county and how it can be a benefit to them again, not just professionally, but from a personal standpoint, a family standpoint, things like that.
0:04:45 - (Eric Proctor): Yeah, well, I'm glad you mentioned telling the story, because I think it all does come down to storytelling, to brand storytelling. You know, there's a powerful brand here in Findlay in Hangout County. I think at the hospital, we have a storied brand that we want to get out there and really, you know, share the value proposition of what it means to come here and to experience this amazing place. So I think it's telling the story. It's telling the story of the people who are a part of the community.
0:05:11 - (Eric Proctor): I think it's so important to find those people who have lived their entire lives in Findlay who have never wanted to leave. We have a campaign going right now called Proudly Born in Findlay. So we're finding those individuals who have been born in Findlay who still live here and may even be having another generation of children who are born in this community. But I also think it's important to find those people who made a decision to leave and then wanted to come back, who made a decision to experience somewhere else and then found, gosh, you know, the grass isn't always greener on the other side. You know, I miss what Findlay has to offer and, you know, made the decision to come back. So, you know, I've been able to hear some of those stories, meet some of those people, and I think the more that we can tell those stories together is really to be key.
0:05:55 - (Doug Jenkins): It's interesting you bring that part up because my wife and I both went to college here. We're both not from the area originally. Both of us lived probably about an hour away. But, you know, when you're growing up, an hour away from a place that might as well be seven hours away. Like, I didn't know much of Findlay until I came to college here, but, like, a lot of young professionals say, okay, I've gone to college. Now it's time to go out and go do my thing. And then it's interesting how we found our way back here where suddenly there was a job offer. And then we were thinking, well, schools are really good and have young kids.
0:06:27 - (Doug Jenkins): And all of a sudden it started to make a lot of sense to Come back here and make this our home. Do you run into a lot of stories like that?
0:06:35 - (Eric Proctor): Yeah, you know, you really do. And I think it, you know, it just conveys, you know, how blessed we really are to be able to be part of this community. And I certainly feel that way and have enjoyed meeting people with those stories. I also think about the importance of coming together with other local organizations, different employers, to really tell the story of Findlay and Hancock county, because we can tell a chapter of that story at Blanchard Valley Health System.
0:07:00 - (Eric Proctor): Others may be able to tell different chapters, different pages. But I think when we really come together as a network of employers, we can tell that story together. So trying to intentionally work with other employers throughout the area on telling the story of what it means to be a part of the local community, and really, I think we have to lock arms. We have to tell that story together. One of the things that we're looking at doing is launching what we would call a trailing spouse or partner program.
0:07:30 - (Eric Proctor): So if we are recruiting a physician here at Blanchard Valley, they may have a spouse or a partner who's coming with them and is looking for employment and, you know, might benefit from, you know, a teaching position at one of the local schools or an opportunity at Marathon. And, you know, I think it can work the other way, too. If those organizations are recruiting, you know, families into the area, then, you know, we likely have a job opportunity for, you know, them here at Blanchard Valley.
0:07:55 - (Doug Jenkins): And I think that's a really good idea, and one that you're recruiting when you. If you're only recruiting a single person. All right, that's easy. You can figure that out. But when a family is involved or a spouse is involved, then you're recruiting two people. So how much homework goes into that before they even set foot in Findlay?
0:08:16 - (Eric Proctor): Yeah, I think a lot. Right. Because, you know, for us, it was. It was very much a mutual decision. And in fact, we. We came at a very unique time. I can always remember the age of my Blanchard Valley career because it's the same age as my youngest daughter. So she's about to be two. I'm about to be two years here. And so it was literally the last week that my wife could physically fly on an airplane before she gave birth to our daughter.
0:08:41 - (Eric Proctor): And so we came here and, you know, we had to try on the community for ourselves as a couple, but also, you know, as parents of young kids and soon to be, you know, newborn. So, you know, we had to test it out from all different stages, and we had to make that choice. That was. It was going to be, you know, beneficial for all of us.
0:09:00 - (Doug Jenkins): Well, you guys weren't messing around with that move. That's right. Tight window. We talk about those types of things that are set up. But the nice thing about the area, and I think we leverage it and probably can leverage it even more, is we have things to attract employees of all ages. We have the university here, we have Owens Community College here, we have downtown, which is a great destination for young professionals on up the line and so on and so forth.
0:09:29 - (Doug Jenkins): How much is that? Just packaging that and showing. Look at all the stuff that's here that you might not have realized that's in this town of 44,000 people.
0:09:38 - (Eric Proctor): I think that's everything. You know, I think that we're a hidden gem here. And, you know, I'm still uncovering parts of that gym every day, you know, looking at things I didn't know that we had. I've tried to go out and, you know, be a part of the local restaurant scene and, you know, the local churches and different activities that, you know, marathon center work with the performer, performing arts puts on. And so it really is, you know, a hidden gem in itself.
0:10:02 - (Eric Proctor): But there's lots of different facets of that that I think, you know, you have to explore over time and you have to sell that out to the recruits that you're working with. And great point about the colleges, the universities and the school systems. I think we have to partner with them. We have to develop our pipelines early. I'm always recruiting and that one of the most important times I'm recruiting is when I drop my kids off at elementary school.
0:10:26 - (Eric Proctor): So, you know, we want to recruit people, you know, that early. Right. So, yes, it's about the college students, but it's also about, you know, sharing a career value proposition with individuals who are young and are thinking about what they want to be when they grow up and where they want to live.
0:10:40 - (Doug Jenkins): What do the next steps of this look like? If you look at this initiative a year from now, maybe even five years down the road, what are the things that you would like to see happen?
0:10:52 - (Eric Proctor): Yeah, you know, I would like for, you know, anyone who receives a call from a recruiter who gets the same question that I did, you know, that here's that question. Have you heard of Findlay Ohio? That they can answer it with a resounding yes. And, you know, they've heard it from their friends, they've heard from people who have moved here to this community. So I think that's the end vision that I would have.
0:11:14 - (Eric Proctor): You know, I think we have to get there together. I think we have to leverage the power of social media. We've really tried to recruit across a multitude of different channels here at Blanchard Valley and it's really been neat to do that because we can identify individuals who say, I'm interested in relocation and I want to relocate to the Ohio area. So I think we have to do that and I think we just have to broaden our reach.
0:11:40 - (Eric Proctor): The more people that we get that move from other places, whether it's other states like me or other countries, you know, suddenly then we have a bit of a foothold in that place. You know, on social media, I'm still connected to a lot of people back in North Carolina. And so those people are seeing, you know, job opportunities post up here in Findlay, Ohio. And I think that the more that we can do that, that we can broaden that recruitment net and that we can really be embracing to people, no matter where they grew up, no matter where they're coming from, it's only going to benefit us in a number of different ways.
0:12:11 - (Doug Jenkins): You mentioned the international aspect, which I always think is fascinating because I from the outside looking in, I don't think people realize how international of a community that Findlay is. You look at the Japanese businesses, the European businesses that have set up shop out in Tall Timbers and it's not just rank and file on the line. They bring over people from their home countries to work there.
0:12:33 - (Doug Jenkins): How does that leverage, how does that work its way into being a recruiting tool for professionals? Tool? Because I feel like that can be a valuable asset.
0:12:40 - (Eric Proctor): Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think the more diverse we can become as a community, you know, the more that we have different ideas, we have different perspectives and the more that we're going to be a comfortable place for that great talent, you know, that may be in another place to want to join us here in Findlay, Ohio. I also think it helps with, you know, just how amazing of a place it is, you know, all the things that there are to do. One of my kids favorite experiences was going and playing Japanese dodgeball with the Tall Timbers community. They talk about that all the time. They're like, when can we go play Japanese dodgeball again? And so, you know, that's been one of their favorite Findlay memories on have an international scale.
0:13:20 - (Doug Jenkins): There's a Japanese version of dodgeball that I don't know about. I'm very curious.
0:13:24 - (Eric Proctor): Oh yeah, yeah. My kids were serious competitors. They may be invited back next year. I'm not sure.
0:13:30 - (Doug Jenkins): All right, now I have a Google search to do. When we're done talking here, I want to learn more about this. I also think. And this is just me with random thoughts, but I think the restaurant scene is a big part of that. The fact that, okay, we've got more than chain restaurants, and we love our chain restaurants here, and we can certainly continue to attract more in. But the fact that we have, like, there's a Robin place coming in, there's Circle of Friends, there's our own, you know, attack. A couple of Italian places that have, like, their Findlay heritage to it, too.
0:13:59 - (Doug Jenkins): I know it seems like a very small part of the puzzle, but I feel like it's a very small but important piece of the puzzle of people just. I don't know, people like to eat, People gather to eat, and when you sit down and have a good meal, you feel like you're at home.
0:14:12 - (Eric Proctor): Yeah, absolutely. You know, that was one of the first things that I did, was right. And luckily, you know, it's. It's been easy to see that because there's great events recently did the United Way event where you had a passport of different places to go. That was fascinating. But, you know, it is a question that I get from recruits. Actually, the. The two newest members of our executive team are originally from India.
0:14:36 - (Eric Proctor): And so as I was talking to them, they wanted to know about the local cuisine, particularly some of the vegetarian cuisine that we have around. And so, you know, it's. It's definitely of interest. I mean, I think it makes people feel at home. We just hired our new chief medical officer, and while she was originally from India and did a lot of great schooling in India, she spent a lot of time in Dayton, Ohio. And so she wanted to be back in Ohio. She said, I'm going to be in Ohio, and. And I said, I'd love for that to be working with Blanchard Valley Health System. But, you know, for us, I think, you know, we have a good opportunity to portray, you know, a cultural experience that's, you know, not just a traditional one for us here in northwest Ohio.
0:15:18 - (Doug Jenkins): Eric, I know you're just about out of time here, but you mentioned that you're working with other businesses and companies in town to try and get this coalition together and talk about these things. If a business is listening to this and they're interested in taking part of this, you want to learn a little bit more about the conversations being had. What's the best way to do that?
0:15:35 - (Eric Proctor): Yeah, absolutely. I would say, you know, reaching out to me directly. I'm on LinkedIn, so you can find me that way. Maybe that's a good incentive for you to get started with that platform if you're not active on social media. So certainly reach out to me. We've also been doing this in close collaboration with the Chamber, with the mayor's office. And so, you know, if you reach out to anyone that chances are that, you know, all routes will point to, you know, a central place. But I am happy to be at direct point of contact. So find me. Reach out to me. Let's go grab coffee, let's go grab food at one of the amazing restaurants and let's just continue the conversation.
0:16:09 - (Doug Jenkins): No shortage of coffee or food in Findlay. Eric, thank you so much for doing this today.
0:16:14 - (Eric Proctor): Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me.
0:16:19 - (Doug Jenkins): One note that Eric passed along after we stopped recording was that his family has enjoyed the community so much that even his mother in law is now moving here. So if you get the mother in law seal of approval, that probably means you're doing something right. Chamber Amplified is a free podcast for the community thanks to the investment of members from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.
0:16:36 - (Doug Jenkins): Because of our robust membership, we're able to focus on providing timely information to the Findlay and Hancock county business community, run leadership programs for adults and teenagers, and be an advocate for the area while also providing tools to help local businesses succeed. And if that sounds like something you'd like to be a part of, just let me know and we can talk about how an investment in the Chamber not only strengthens your business, but the community as a whole.
0:16:58 - (Doug Jenkins): That'll do it for this week's episode. If you have any ideas for topics that we should cover on future episodes, just send me an email. Djenkinsindlayhancockchamber.com thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time on Chamber Amplified from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.