Message from the President

Have you ever been “behind the walls” and taken a tour through a manufacturing facility? How about dining at the chef’s table in a restaurant kitchen? I have had the opportunity to visit many of our members and learn firsthand how the operations work by seeing things for myself. It’s fascinating and quite impactful. Sometimes “seeing is believing.” As we enter a time in our history with now 25 years of declining birthrates and the retirement of the largest generation in history, employers need to be ever-more strategic about recruitment.

Millennials and Generation Zs are not prone to use the job searching tools I grew up knowing. These 18to 45-year-olds are more experiential in much of what they do, so why not merchandise on that knowledge and provide an “open house” of sorts for recruitment? If I were designing a modern job fair of sorts, I’d connect with community leaders and groups that have readymade audiences of potential hires and tender invitations. I would give a behind-the-scenes tour and allow the applicants to sit down and talk about what it’s like to work at my business with people who they can relate to and have been employed with you for years. With some neighbors, employers may then connect potential hires to transportation or area childcare options to assist in solving real-life barriers for some.

Most of us will never know much about most businesses because we seldom get inside or past the front desk. Offering curated tours and organized conversations with long-time employees may be a good way to reach audiences of today and frequently overlooked populations. This edition of our magazine is focused on some key industries like manufacturing, health and wellness, and more. But I believe new strategies for attracting candidates will work for just about all our members!