Chamber upping the game on attracting talent

The Quad Cities Chamber is committed to expanding the Quad Cities’ talent pipeline in 2021 through new talent attraction and career connection strategies. The goal is to ensure that regional employers have a sufficient pool of talent – and employees with the right skill sets – to enable them to sustain and grow their businesses.  

A decade ago, the Chamber’s economic development efforts were laser-focused on attracting new industry to the region by identifying prospective sites for companies to locate or expand here and ultimately create jobs. 

But fast forward to 2021, and both the conversation and work plan have shifted to include recruiting talent. Efforts are already well underway to explore how the Quad Cities can attract and retain talent, which, in turn, will create a vibrant region. The “if you build it, they will come” philosophy has been replaced with the belief that it if we attract the talent and the people, the jobs will follow. 

“About 18 months ago, we identified a need to develop a regional approach to address our talent challenges,” said Kristin Glass, the Chamber’s Chief Strategy Officer. 

Months before COVID-19 altered the economic landscape in the Quad Cities and around the globe, the Chamber and many of its workforce partners had already recognized the need to attract talent to our bi-state region. 

Now, today, after the economic mayhem created by the pandemic last year, employers are finding it even more difficult to fill openings and operate at full capacity. Despite offering increased wages, benefit packages, hiring bonuses and using other recruitment tactics, Quad Cities companies are unable to fill their employee ranks and worry about having enough workers to sustain, expand and attract future business. 

“Talent is the biggest business barrier right now,” said Mike Oberhaus, the Chamber’s Vice President, Talent & Administration. 

Oberhaus, who will lead the Chamber’s new talent initiatives, said, “They’ll all tell you, even in today’s marketplace, it’s a buyer’s market.” 

The current job market, combined with the graying workforce - many Baby Boomers are on the edge of retirement - has companies deeply concerned about filling the talent pipeline, Oberhaus said. 

Through the work of Q2030, Glass said, “We learned that more than 100 partners – nonprofits and businesses alike - were working in the talent space. So we identified the need to determine how we collaborate and create a unified plan around talent.”

Building a solid talent pipeline not only for today but for the future is paramount to helping the Chamber and the six-county Quad Cities region achieve the goals of increasing our population to the 500,000 mark and growing our economy’s GDP to $35 billion by 2030.  

To further examine the issue, the Chamber and United Way partnered last year on a Quad Cities Regional Talent Study. The report was generously funded by one of our region’s largest employers, Deere & Company, and conducted by Alchemy Community Transformations, a consulting firm focused on helping communities plan for growth. 

Although COVID-19 paused the study, when the research resumed, its scope was expanded to address the impacts the pandemic could have on employers’ workforce needs. 

The report, which was finalized in January, identified five priorities to aid the Quad Cities in building a successful talent machine: 

• Pre-school for all
• Career connections
• High school graduation – career/college ready
• Talent attraction 
• Career Pathways 

Glass said the Chamber and United Way are now hard at work identifying community partners and support to assist in tackling each priority. It is critical, she added, that we address the priorities as a region. “We need to make sure all the right people are at the table.” Some of the partners already involved include the area’s community colleges and nonprofit organizations. 

The Chamber has taken the lead on talent attraction and career connections, whereas United Way is leading the career pathways, preschool and high school priorities. 

“These are all the long-term solutions,” Glass said. “If we do this well, long-term our community will be positioned well to compete for jobs, investment and people.” 

Oberhaus said part of the challenge is to raise young students’ awareness to the career opportunities that exist. The Chamber is partnering with area school districts and community colleges to reach tomorrow’s workers. New initiatives such as the high school apprenticeship and internship programs are helping students explore a wealth of job opportunities. 

Looking to the future

In addition, the Chamber plans to soon begin recruiting for two new positions that will be responsible for implementing the new talent strategies. The Chamber will hire a Director, Talent & Inclusion and a Manager, Career Connections.  

“We also need to make sure everyone in the region is getting the skills needed to be good employees,” said Oberhaus, who is a former Rock Island-Milan schools superintendent. 

He said the Chamber and its partners are also engaging area employers in the talent strategy and shedding light on how efforts to build a talent pipeline need to begin in pre-school and go through all the grades and into post-high school career preparation. 

The Chamber’s future career connection efforts will aim to help students identify their interests and build awareness early of how their interests match up into future career choices.

Part of the challenge is not only to raise their interest, but to find ways to keep students connected with employers who offer such job opportunities. “We’re going to help bring employers to the equation,” he said.  “We’re in competition with everyone else in the country for talent.”