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One of the most important things you will ever do in your business is hire employees. They are the most important asset and expense that any business has. There have never been as many tools available as there are today to find potential employees, but that doesn’t mean that it’s easier than ever. It can be hard knowing where to find the right employees for your business. (Forbes, Feb 11, 2024)
Many businesses rely on the company website to attract employees. This works quite well for job seekers that are looking for very specific, high demand, highly skilled positions. These seekers get suggestions from educators and professionals to create a list of companies that interest them and then visit their web pages to gain insights into the culture and values of the company before applying. Maintaining an attractive, user-friendly website that shares a business’ deeper employee and community principles is important to these job seekers.
From the more general job seeker perspective, searching individual websites for job postings is a very cumbersome task. One of the barriers is that postings are not always found in a user-friendly fashion, often buried beneath a lot of clicks. Many job seekers are not searching for a specific business or industry but want to know more about the bigger picture of opportunity. STEM positions are often high demand, high wage positions seriously needing to be filled but there are numerous postings for jobs that provide workers with important soft skills such as critical thinking, communication, teamwork and work ethic that support our region’s economy that need to be filled as well. There are many seekers who just need a job with income. There are three distinct groups of job seekers for businesses to target.
Adult job seekers
Online is where they go. Indeed, Zip Recruiter, and LinkedIn are among the top go-tos for job searchers. Michigan Works! is a powerful resource, as well. In addition to matching job seekers with employers, Michigan Works can connect and assist with training and education. In recent years Michigan Works! has been very active establishing and mentoring businesses and job seekers through apprenticeships. Michigan Works! effectively uses social media, posting job openings often on Facebook, to draw more workers to their participating business opportunities. The two Michigan Works! services for our region are:
Great Lakes Bay Michigan Works, serving Bay, Gratiot, Isabella, Midland and Saginaw Counties at https://www.michiganworks.com/employer/
Michigan Works Region 7b, serving Arenac, Clare, Gladwin, Iosco, Ogemaw, and Roscommon Counties at https://www.michiganworks.com/employer/
There are an increasing number of Chambers of Commerce groups providing job postings as a service to both businesses and the community. Chambers are attracting employees for Bay City area businesses at https://www.heybaycity.com/jobs/ and Mt. Pleasant area at https://business.mt-pleasant.net/jobs/ .
College Students
College Students might be looking for positions upon graduation but also may be looking for work while on their career path to support themselves while taking classes. They may also be looking for internships or summer employment. Handshake is an online recruiting platform for higher education students and alumni and is the predominant method in our region to connect students with employers for opportunities. Handshake is free for employers and students. Registering and establishing a profile on Handshake can help businesses connect with students at almost all universities and colleges in the region. Registration for Handshake and other job posting opportunities can be found on the Career Center webpagefor each college or university.
Businesses can make connections to college students through Job/Career Fairs as well. Sometimes these fairs are industry specific and sometimes they are general. Each college and university Career Center webpage has listings for upcoming fairs.
Indeed, LinkedIn and Zip Recruiter are also go-to sites for college age job seekers.
High School Students
CTE students are the most highly trained and work-ready students in this group. The range of education and training is expanding every year. Most employers know that students are graduating ready to work in skilled trades but many do not realize that students are also ready for healthcare, culinary, agriculture, marketing and business work. Getting to know and collaborate with local CTE directors and educators puts a business at an advantage to tap this resource for work-based learning opportunities as well as summer and post-graduate employees. Identifying CTE staff can be done through RESD and ISD webpages and offices. Having high school counselors on a call list can tap into the non-CTE student resources.
Many high schools are now teaching students how to use Linked-in as a job hunt tool as well as a method to research companies for employment. Actively posting on Link-in can reach these populations.
The number and scope of high school career fairs is also increasing. MiCareer Quest Middle Michigan is a huge event held each year at SVSU for thousands of high school students to learn about five high demand industries in the region. Michigan Works! organizes the event with will be held October 24 this and planning has already begun. Contact Michigan Works! for opportunities.
Many schools host career fairs. The Gratiot Isabella RESD, along with Alma High School, held a first of its kind career expo event in February for all Junior and Seniors in Gratiot County. This provided businesses and students interaction that has not previously been available for very small schools or those not able to support a fair because of space or other barriers. Students are more likely to target a business and their website for career opportunities when they have interacted with that business at a career fair or event. A regional Career Fair Calendar is published monthly in the ETP Newsletter.
Michigan Works! has Youth services teams to help young talent with education, training and other supports to find employment. Contact the Great Lakes Bay Michigan Works Business Services team, serving Bay, Gratiot, Isabella, Midland and Saginaw Counties, at https://www.michiganworks.com/employer/business-services-team/ . Amy Ames, Business Services Specialist, can be contacted at 989-280-4133 or amesa@michiganworks.com .
The Michigan Works Region 7b, serving Arenac, Clare, Gladwin, Iosco, Ogemaw, and Roscommon Counties, Business Services Team can be contacted at https://www.michworks4u.org/#contactFormAnchor
Any business that would like further assistance connecting to resources referred to in this article can contact Carol McCaul, Employer Talent Pipeline Lead, at cmccaulsps@gmail.com
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