Employers might see the University of Saint Francis staging more career fairs and networking opportunities, allowing easier engagement with students.
Such connections are one strategy to help employers fill talent gaps app short term and long term.
Thatapps the goal, at least, for a collective of business leaders and educators that the Indiana Talent Forum will draw together next week at Trine University.
appWeappre always trying to think about the employers that can help us in our professional degree programs,app said Julie Caldwell, director of career development at Saint Francis.
appMost of the time,app she said, appemployers who do well are employers who are able to get in front of the students.app
Caldwell will be one of the panelists at the forum the Indiana Economic Development Corp. is hosting Tuesday in Angola at Trine. The forum is 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and at least 100 people were signed up to attend as of Wednesday afternoon.
The registration link at trine.link/indiana-talent is expected to remain open until Sunday, an IEDC public relations manager said.
The forum is pitched as an opportunity for strategic planning sessions focused on talent acquisition and retention. Participants will learn about supportive programs and resources.
Universities have some accredited programs that require students get hands-on experience before earning a degree.
Four years after COVID-19 upended the economy, some businesses still struggle to find app and keep app talent.
Many baby boomers are retiring. People appjust donappt want to work.app Weappve heard all the cries.
But the optimists keep rolling up their sleeves, strategizing and pulling people together to talk about whatapps working, whatapps not and what has potential.
Tony Denhart is in the problem-solving camp. Heapps executive vice president of workforce and talent for the stateapps economic development corporation.
Last year, the IEDC hosted talent forums in three locations. This year, itapps four. One was at the University of Evansville in the southern part of the state. That followed the first one this year at Purdue University in West Lafayette. Trine in Angola is next to host a talent talk, with separate panels that include educators and business leaders. The final forum is scheduled Aug. 13 at Ball State University in Muncie.
Denhart sees the forums as helping businesses appget connected to the front door,app knowing how to tap into universities and college students that might have the very talent they so need.
appWe want to help these companies be more successful in attracting and retaining the workforces in the future that will help keep them around,app Denhart said in a brief telephone interview this week.
Sweetwater, an online retailer of music instruments and audio equipment, is participating in the dialogue next week. The company has more than 2,500 employees and has often hired talent from outside northeast Indiana and the state.
Jordan Applegate, senior director of human resources at Sweetwater, will be on a panel with HR and talent leaders from Parkview Health and OrthoWorx.
appAt Sweetwater, weappve seen firsthand how fostering a strong company culture and investing in our people can drive both attraction and retention of top talent,app Applegate said in an emailed statement. appI look forward to sharing our experiences and learning from other industry leaders on the panel.app
Caldwell, the University of Saint Francis career development leader, said it can be challenging to meet the varied needs. So much has to align: the student interest and availability along with the employerapps needs and timeline.
She knows health care is a big area of need. One partnership that has worked well is with a business called Steppinapp Up Physical Therapy, which has multiple locations.
appThat one, in particular, I would say was probably a faculty-led initiative to find somewhere where we could send our students,app Caldwell said.
Whether itapps an internship, obtaining clinical hours or other real-world experience, Caldwell said it helps students create a network within the industry where they expect to build a career.
appAnd then weappre seeing the results of our students being employed there after graduation,app she said.
Parkview Health has a connection with the University of Saint Francis graduates, Caldwell said, and has hired several of the schoolapps graduates.
Thinking about how future career fairs and networking events might be fashioned, Caldwell envisions at least occasionally focusing on individual career sectors.
appWeappre going to try to do a better job this year of making it smaller, more intimate and more valuable,app she said. appWe could always do better, and so we appreciate when employers are patient with the process.app
Health care is a primary sector for projected job growth and openings that will need to be filled in the next five years in northeast Indiana, said Rick Farrant, communications director for Northeast Indiana Works.
The organization in July announced a Healthcare Begins with Me career awareness campaign that includes engaging with K-12 students, using an informational website and other initiatives.
Farrant said workers will be needed at all levels of health care, from the practitioners and technical occupations to support personnel.
Projections by the labor market analytical firm Lightcast indicate health care openings will be most pronounced for five occupations in the next five years in northeast Indiana, Farrant said through email. Those occupations are home health and personal care aides, 5,421 openings; nursing assistants, 3,289 openings; registered nurses, 3,170 openings; medical assistants, 1,400 openings; and licensed practical nurses and licensed vocational nurses, 819 openings.
Transportation and warehousing and professional, scientific and technical services are other industries expected to experience significant job growth, Farrant said. Manufacturing, currently the regionapps largest employment sector, is projected to see minimal job growth.
appProjections of job growth and openings fluctuate from time to time depending on national and global market forces, but health care has consistently been a leader in demand for workers,app Farrant said. appThere is little reason to think that will change given, among other things, an increasingly aging population and emerging technologies that help people live more comfortably.app
That might be why health care industry representatives will have two seats at the table for one of the panel discussions at next weekapps Talent Forum.
To share a thought, a favorite quote or other wisdom about leadership, email Lisa Green at lisagreen@jg.net. Lead On also appears online as a blog at .
