San Diego works to give its employers a leg up in recruiting

Dive Brief:

San Diego is offering employers in the city a "recruitment toolkit" that aims to help them attract job seekers. The "San Diego: Life. Changing." campaign was launched in response to a nationwide battle for talent, the city said.
Businesses in the region had been asking for help raising awareness about the city and all it has to offer. In competition with other tech locales in the state, employers in the city say they're finding it is difficult to attract candidates, particularly in STEM fields.
The toolkit includes recruitment resources such as fast facts, imagery and b-roll, infographics, industry overviews, social media posts and more, according to the city. Employers also can add themselves to an accompanying map.

Dive Insight:

San Diego joins a host of state and local governments working to attract talent to their communities.

In Wisconsin, a bid to woo candidates to fill the anticipated 10,000 jobs Foxconn will bring to the area, included more than generous tax incentives; the state is even participating in training workers for the company. In Alabama, Toyota is seeing the benefits of partnering with the community to recruit, screen and train up to 4,000 workers for a newly planned plant. Oregon high schools are working with the business community to train and ready grads for jobs as well. And Volvo is partnering with local colleges to staff its new South Carolina facility.

It’s not just job-ready talent that community and industry leaders are partnering to attract, either. California recently announced a record number of apprenticeships in the state to help employers create a talent pipeline. New Jersey also recently announced its own apprenticeship program to attract and train talent.

Employers are increasingly realizing that to survive the war for talent they may need to be proactive. Pairings like this may be good for business and communities alike. The other challenges, as unemployment remains low, will be to determine what keeps employees engaged and on board — and hope Amazon doesn't move into town.