Going Beyond Local: How to Attract Out-of-State Talent

Episode Summary:

Join host Doug Jenkins of the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce as he looks into talent attraction for local businesses in this episode of Chamber Amplified. Facing a shortage of local talent, especially in STEM fields, many businesses in Ohio are exploring new ways to find skilled candidates. This episode features Alex Conley of Find Your Ohio, who discusses the efforts of JobsOhio to attract out-of-state talent to support the demand of Ohio's job market.

Alex shares the details of the Find Your Ohio program, which offers a system to help businesses fill specialized roles with qualified candidates from outside the state. As the director, Alex outlines how the program has facilitated numerous successful placements by connecting companies with a wide pool of talented professionals. The episode emphasizes the strategic advantages of Ohio's lower cost of living, making it an attractive destination for skilled professionals from high-cost areas such as the coasts.

Key Takeaways:

• Find Your Ohio is a national talent attraction program aimed at filling critical roles in STEM fields in Ohio by attracting skilled candidates from outside the state.
• The program emphasizes the appeal of Ohio's competitive cost of living and career opportunities, providing significant value propositions for potential recruits from higher-cost regions.
• Employers working with Find Your Ohio receive support through a personalized system that helps match candidates with companies, including a focus on transitioning military members and veterans.
• Companies of all sizes, from small local businesses to large organizations, can benefit from the program without incurring additional costs.
• The program works in conjunction with local resources, supporting the broader talent pipeline strategy by complementing local educational and recruitment initiatives.

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

Transcript

0:00:05 - (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 that impact the local business community. It can be really anything. It issues employee recruitment, retention, marketing, you name it. We're covering it all in an effort to build a stronger business community in Findlay and Hancock County.

0:00:25 - (Doug Jenkins): Our goal is to give the local business community tips each week on at least one way they can improve operations and and thrive in the current business environment. We're talking about talent attraction this episode of Chamber Amplified. We talk a lot about that employee recruitment element here. This is kind of a different take on it. What do you do when you just can't find the people you need locally? Is there help?

0:00:48 - (Doug Jenkins): Well, yes. Alex Conley from Find you'd Ohio will join us to talk about how Jobs Ohio is working to attract talent from out of state and how it's already helped businesses all around Ohio, including here in Hancock County. This is especially true in STEM related fields and for larger hiring projects. But we're going to get into all the nuts and bolts of that throughout the show, so be sure to stay tuned for that. Again, if you enjoy what you hear here on Chamber Amplify, be sure to rate and review the podcast. I think you can do that on Apple podcasts for sure, maybe even Spotify. Wherever you get your podcasts, we're available.

0:01:22 - (Doug Jenkins): And if you can review us there, that is a big help. Now let's get into it. Joined on the podcast now by Alex Conley. She is the director of Find your Ohio for Jobs Ohio. Alex, thanks for joining us today.

0:01:35 - (Alex Conley): Thanks for having me. Excited to be here.

0:01:37 - (Doug Jenkins): Well, so we'll get into all things Find Find your Ohio in a second and how that can benefit area businesses looking for employees. But it's funny, I think I saw you talk, I don't know, was it last October, September, somewhere in that range. And then I was like, man, that'd be a great podcast topic then I didn't hear anything. All right, maybe it's not a good podcast topic. And no, you were quite busy in the interim. Congratulations on becoming a new mother.

0:02:03 - (Alex Conley): Thank you. Yes, I know. I felt so bad. I was, I think, very pregnant when you saw me last year. I have since had a baby and she's doing great and come back and you know, we. It's been a big year for Finder Ohio. So back at it.

0:02:20 - (Doug Jenkins): Yeah, absolutely. Well, again, congratulations. And it does mean we appreciate this time all the much more knowing everything that goes into Work and life balance and everything in that time of life. So let's talk about Find your Ohio. This is a great tool for businesses to find employees and not necessarily drawing from the local area, but encouraging people to come to Ohio. How does the program work?

0:02:45 - (Alex Conley): Sure. So you know, as you mentioned, it is a national talent attraction program. So we are focused on proactively driving talent from across the country and then helping match them with Ohio organizations. And so really this was developed where we were, we were seeing talent shortages in some areas of critical disciplines, specifically in the STEM areas where there was a need. We're either not producing enough talent in that space or there was just a need to go outside of the state to get additional talent to fill the needs of the employers.

0:03:16 - (Alex Conley): And so really our focus has been primarily tech engineering. We launched health care last year. And so what our goal is is to take this out of state talent. We drive them to the Finder Ohio site where they can learn more about working and living in Ohio. From there, they submit one application. We try to make it as easy as possible. Once they submit that application, it is in our database which is accessible by all of our employers. And then on the back end, we work with employers to get them set up on the program and they can access candidates one of two ways. So the first is through self service search. So we have a resume database. We have over 35,000 or yes, 35,000 active candidates right now. Yes. This year alone we've driven over 18,000 new candidates. So we have quite a robust database.

0:04:14 - (Alex Conley): Companies can conduct their own self service search. They're provided a login, they can, you know, find candidates with keyword search, use our various tools to find individuals that match their openings. So that's the first way. The second way is we know that there is an added step when a candidate is applying to a general job application and then matching it to an employer specific role. So we really help to bridge that gap. And my team will help match those candidates to those openings and refer candidates to those teams.

0:04:45 - (Alex Conley): So we try to take some of the work. We know a lot of HR teams are strapped. You know, it's, it's been a tough year for recruitment. So we try to make it as easy as possible for, for companies and then we make that connection and take a step back. So we let the candidates and the employers kind of move through the typical interview process and then we're there for support along the way if either, you know, the candidate and the player need anything.

0:05:12 - (Alex Conley): And then we hope, you know, if all Goes well, they make a hire. And, you know, I think one thing that is especially valuable with this program is, you know, anyone, especially nowadays, if you're applying for a job, you might apply to 50 jobs, you are one of, you know, thousands of applicants, and you're just sending your resume to the board. You're like, is anyone seeing this? Am I putting in the right keywords in my resume? Like, what's going on?

0:05:39 - (Alex Conley): And what's nice is we really try, especially if candidates have, like, they see a company in our site and they're like, wow, I really love to work for, you know, this company. We really get their resume to the top of the pile. You know, we are pushing them over and saying, like, hey, we have this candidate, they're interested, so they can rest assured that a person's actually seeing it. And we are trying to make those connections for them.

0:06:02 - (Doug Jenkins): That is a big part of the puzzle right there. There's a lot of ground to cover. One of the things I like about it is it seems kind of like the flip side of the coin of we're trying to develop as many STEAM majors and STEAM people who, people are trained in that those distributors, disciplines as we can. But that's filling the pipeline. We have employers who need people right now, and this is a, a big component of that.

0:06:23 - (Doug Jenkins): When it comes to the draw to Ohio, what are the things when you go out and like you said, you're advertising this and all across the nation, what are the things that you promote that say, hey, not only is there a good job here for you, but you want to be in Ohio? This is why?

0:06:38 - (Alex Conley): Yeah, sure. And I will say too that, you know, we don't turn anyone away. So if there are Ohio candidates that make it into our database, we are helping them find a job as well. So we certainly want to make sure we're helping everyone. But for those out of state candidates, really our strategy when we've been going out in marketing is we've been looking at areas of the country where we see an influx of those target roles, where there's, you know, a large group of, let's say, software developers, but maybe a much higher cost of living.

0:07:09 - (Alex Conley): And I think that's really where the Ohio value proposition is strongest, where, you know, you can find a great opportunity. Here we have companies doing such amazing work and really innovative things. So you can build this great career, have all this opportunity, and hey, you can also, you know, have a great quality of life. You can afford to, you know, start a family, buy a home, which especially when we're looking at the coast, it's, it's wild how much things cost.

0:07:39 - (Alex Conley): And I'm not from Ohio and you know, I just started a family here, so clearly I found my Ohio.

0:07:44 - (Doug Jenkins): You're practicing what you preach right there. Well, I mean, just like thinking from a software engineer standpoint, what does a software engineer salary, how far does that go in Silicon Valley versus a Columbus or even a Findlay for that matter, where the cost of living is even a little bit lower. So that makes, that makes a lot of sense there. In terms of success stories in the businesses that you've been working with, where have you seen some big successes?

0:08:11 - (Alex Conley): Yeah, so, you know, we, there, there's so many candidates coming in. We obviously can't, we can't unfortunately find jobs for every single person. We try our hardest. But, you know, we were really proud in 2024. We ended the year, we sent over 1200 candidate matches out to companies and 29% of those matches received interviews. And then 14% of those interviews led to actual offers. So, you know, we are seeing, we're seeing the engagement from candidates, we're seeing the engagement from employers, which we're really excited about.

0:08:46 - (Alex Conley): I would also say, you know, something that a recent success story that comes to mind is we had a candidate, he was in San Antonio, we met him at an event and he really wanted to get back to Ohio. And there was a company who specifically interested in, they didn't have an open role that kind of matched his, his background. But you were like, we were able to sell this guy. We're like, he's great. Like, look at his background. I think he'd be a great fit.

0:09:12 - (Alex Conley): We were able to get him an interview and they created a position for him and he's leading a team now and able to transition back. So, you know, there's certainly, I think there's, there's all these different tools now and automations. But there's also something to be said about, you know, why we have a very sophisticated tool that's doing AI matching and making your searches easier. You also have a team with Finder Ohio who is like directly, it is people calling people as well.

0:09:42 - (Doug Jenkins): That's. Yeah, that's kind of the point that I wanted to reiterate is, you know, we do everything online these days and a lot of times it's more convenient to do it. But that person doing the work for you, that can be a big advantage. When you talk to area companies who hop on board with this, what are their concerns when they first get started with the program. And how do you kind of walk them through that setup process?

0:10:09 - (Alex Conley): What are their concerns? That's a great question. You know, I think some initial. Well, everyone's, everyone's very skeptical until they find out that it's free. That's always a good, they always like that. I think that there's so many different tools out there that I think sometimes, especially teams that are, you know, strapped and have so much on their plates, it's like, oh, one other.

0:10:34 - (Doug Jenkins): Right.

0:10:34 - (Alex Conley): One other tool I need to use and log into. And you know, we try to, we try to make it as easy as possible. Employers don't need to post jobs, which saves them some time. I know that's come up before where it's like, well, I don't have time to post jobs, jobs another place and like screen the candidates that come in. So candidates just come through a general application so there's no posting of jobs.

0:10:57 - (Alex Conley): So there's, you know, we can eliminate that concern. You know, we do ask employers to like log into the database and do their own searches. We encourage that. But teams that don't have time for that, you know, with, if they opt in to receive support from our team, we can make it easier by sending them candidates if they give us the criteria. So I think the concerns are mainly just around bandwidth.

0:11:22 - (Alex Conley): And you know, I think some other things that come up too are around. Well, I'm interested in out of state talent, but my company doesn't offer a relocation incentive or a relocation package. Can we still use it? And what I tell them is yes, obviously it'll be easier for you, right, to stand out if you offer a relocation incentive or relocation package. But you know, I don't think that's an expectation of the candidates. And we don't tell them. Every company offers that.

0:11:51 - (Alex Conley): Companies have also gotten pretty creative with, you know, sign on bonuses or other things to kind of help candidates with that move. And I know a big poll of the program. So we have a special emphasis on attracting transitioning military members and veterans as well. And so for those interested in, interested in that kind of population, the veteran population, the first move out of the military is paid for by the military.

0:12:22 - (Alex Conley): So transitioning military members often, you know, they, they're already getting that paid. So that kind of lessens the burden on employers too, if they're concerned about that relocation package or incentive.

0:12:34 - (Doug Jenkins): I didn't realize that was a thing that they offered, but that's, that's great to hear. Yeah, it does seem like that's something where Maybe the company can't offer that relocation package. But speaking from a broader statewide standpoint, I think if a company works with their area economic development office or CHAM of Commerce or something like that, they, they may not have a package available, but they might have incentives available at the local level to help move.

0:12:58 - (Doug Jenkins): For instance, in Findlay and Hancock county we have Findlay first. So if people are recruiting talent from out of the area, they could come in, we give them the tour of the town. Very, very specific to what their, what their interests are, what, what's important to them. And while it, you know, it doesn't necessarily cover the cost of, of the move, it probably makes that move a little less foreboding for anybody who's making, looking to make that big of a jump. So I guess the piece of advice to anybody listening to the podcast is try and pair this with a local resource. And again, everybody has all the bandwidth taken that they, they can right now or use that they can. But there's, there's, I think a way to make that work by pairing up what you're doing with what some local agencies are doing too. So that's always, I think there's some, some opportunities for people there.

0:13:44 - (Doug Jenkins): I. So the first step, if, if I have a company and I'm looking, I just, I want to get in, maybe I'm not hiring right now. What do I need to do?

0:13:55 - (Alex Conley): So I always recommend companies start with their local, their regional, our, one of our regional network partners. So RDP in this region would be a great start just to make sure they have such a great cheerpoint local resources, regional resources. They have a full view into all of the different talent supports available just to make sure that there's nothing that's missed. And then if they feel like it's a fit for Finder Ohio, they will refer you in. So right now it's all referral based.

0:14:26 - (Alex Conley): We start with an introduction call just to kind of explain the program, answer any questions and then again just assess it. Companies that I would say are a good fit for the program right now are obviously open to out of state talent hiring professional STEM level roles. I would say skilled trade and hourly positions are not a great fit since it is harder to relocate individuals for those types of positions.

0:14:54 - (Alex Conley): And then a focus on engineering, healthcare or technology talent is also great. We don't turn anyone away. So we all have different types of talent, but I would say those are kind of the ideal. So we have that introduction call and then from there we would set up if we're, we've all agreed to move forward, we'd set up an onboarding call to actually show them how to use the system. So get their login, walk them through how to do the candidate searches, and then they're good to go. So we try to make it as simple as possible.

0:15:23 - (Alex Conley): Typically from that introduction call to actually getting their log into the system, I mean, we can get companies in within, like, a week.

0:15:31 - (Doug Jenkins): Oh, wow.

0:15:32 - (Alex Conley): Typically depending on schedule. So we try to make it very readily available and easy.

0:15:38 - (Doug Jenkins): And then the last thing is, obviously, there are certain skill sets that are more amenable to the program. They're not like you illustrated. But as far as company size, seeing that it's a free program for area, I would imagine you work with companies of all sizes, from mom and pop, who needs an engineer, all the way up to some of the bigger businesses in Ohio.

0:15:58 - (Alex Conley): We do companies of all different sizes. We work with really small organizations that might just have one or two open roles at a time to organizations hiring, like, hundreds of, you know, engineers. So it really runs the gamut. What I would say is I think companies that see the most value are those that have multiple openings for one role. So, for example, let's say they're hiring 10 electrical engineers instead of one.

0:16:29 - (Alex Conley): And the reason I say that is a lot of time, if you have a single opening, you most likely are able to find somebody from your local talent pool to fit that opening, someone locally. And it might not make sense financially for you to go out of state and relocate someone. So I think where the program makes the most sense for individuals or is the most beneficial, the companies that we're seeing the most benefit are the ones that are, you know, have like 10, and they're like, I've exhausted my local pool, and I really need to look outward.

0:17:02 - (Alex Conley): I think that would probably be where we see the biggest benefit.

0:17:06 - (Doug Jenkins): All right, Alex, I appreciate your time today. It's a great benefit for employers all across the state, and hopefully we get some people from Findlay and Hancock county involved. That as well. Thanks for taking time out of your day. We'll talk to you later.

0:17:20 - (Alex Conley): Of course. Thanks so much for having me, Doug. It's been great.

0:17:23 - (Doug Jenkins): One key point that I want to go back to is while this is one tool to get employees, the idea is not to discourage local STEM candidates, if that's what you're hiring, hiring for. Certainly we want to hire as many locally people we can, but if you can't find people locally, this is a great resource. It's kind of two sides of the same coin. We're developing that pipeline of STEM candidates through our local schools and colleges, and they'll be coming into the workforce.

0:17:49 - (Doug Jenkins): But the way that things grow, you may not be able to fill completely locally. And this is just another example of how you can use a resource to help get those candidates to help your business. Well, that'll do it for this week's episode. Chamber Amplified is a free podcast for the community, thanks to the investment in members of the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. 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.

0:18:19 - (Doug Jenkins): That's all while 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 helps you strengthen the community. If you have any ideas for topics you'd like to hear covered on future episodes, just send me an email djenkins at finleyhancockchamber. Com. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you next time on Chamber Amplified. From the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.