Talent, workforce drive companies’ attraction to region

As our team travels to domestic and international markets meeting with company executives to showcase why they should expand in our 11-county region, the rst word they hear is talent. It’s the dealmaker — or dealbreaker — in many cases.

e Detroit Regional Partnership’s role in creating a more robust economy with an expanded, inclusive middle class is to help bring companies here to invest and create as many quality jobs as possible for all skill levels. To do this well, it’s absolutely critical to also provide robust talent solutions that help employers meet their talent needs.

As the conversation with prospective companies evolves into deeper discussions and site visits, our rst job is to tout the business climate and talent strengths of the region to help close the deal. at’s the “sell” and it’s critical to landing projects.

e second part of the job is helping companies navigate the market once they are here. at’s where the Detroit Regional Partnership’s talent concierge strategy kicks in and focuses on driving inclusive economic growth. By gaining an understanding of the company’s talent needs and strategies, we can serve as a designated agent and their single point of contact to guide them through the vast network of workforce development agencies that serve this region.

In working with prospective companies navigating talent, we’ve learned several things:

 There’s no substitute for authentic diversity in business attraction.

Where some regions scramble to

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showcase themselves as “diverse,” the Detroit region doesn’t have to fake it. We have diverse and culturally rich communities that provide a highly talented workforce that authentically looks like the world.

 Diversity is a selling point we need to market more.

Companies recognize the inherent advantages of diversity: increased innovation, a better understanding of markets, and improved talent retention. Our region o ers a broad range of skill sets that apply across industries and diverse lifestyles for talent to enjoy — urban, suburban, and rural, all in relatively close proximity. We need to market every aspect of our diversity more aggressively — it’s a di erentiator for the Detroit region.

 Community colleges are a “secret” weapon we need to invest in.

Our nine regional community colleges are educating approximately 86,000 students annually while working to develop curriculum and training programs to meet rapidly changing employer needs. is network of schools does not exist everywhere, and site selectors tell us we should do more to highlight it.

Our state also needs to continue to invest in community colleges to maintain our edge. e secret’s out and other regions that lack our community college ecosystem are working to replicate it.

 Talent concierge services must follow the sales pitch.

No company looking to locate in our region has the time to completely engage the breadth of talent here on their own. We have 11 counties, 340+ municipalities, and a talented workforce of 2.6 million people — but trying to navigate the ecosystem is time-consuming.

To truly bene t from our diversity, we must provide a curated path through our workforce development landscape for businesses new to the region to build an inclusive workforce — and the more success we have, the more opportunity we can create for our residents of all backgrounds.

 Our regional role is to bring jobs