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So now you are utterly convinced that your organization should be taking advantage of free or subsidized solutions to your talent challenges. Hooray! The next question is - how?
What are the various ways to connect with the supports available? What are best practices? What criteria should you consider when choosing a path forward?
Sarah Brown of Virgin Hotels, who has partnered successfully with a number of business services partners, understands that the “how” is not necessarily straightforward. “Many employers don't know where to start, and it feels overwhelming,” Sarah notes. “Leaders are faced with many tough questions: What should I do? Where do I start? How do I make these connections?”
This chapter addresses those questions. While there is more than one way to get started, we recommend the following steps --
Name and clarify your needs
Identify and research options
Connect with candidate partners
Select a partner
All along the way, you’ll need to secure support from leadership within your own organization. This means not only top leadership, but also line managers who work directly with any impacted roles.
This chapter will outline every one of these steps, and give you some tips from your peers who have navigated this process before you.
Handy Hack: Seasoned Talent Management professionals might find some sections of this chapter somewhat rudimentary. But, we don't want to leave anyone new to this journey behind. If any of these segments seem elementary to you at your current career stage, feel free to give them a quick scan and move on to the next step.
Name and Clarify Your Needs
Before meeting with or even conducting online research about business services partners in your area, it can be helpful to think about what specific needs you are trying to address.
What problem are you trying to solve, or what opportunity are you hoping to capitalize on?
What would “success” look like?
How can engaging with free or subsidized business services contribute to reaching your goals?
“Employers should first reflect on their workforce dynamics and needs: What are your goals and your resulting strategies? Consider whether you're seeking a diverse mix of skilled workers, aiming to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion, or addressing workforce turnover, especially with retiring employees.” George Wright, CEO, The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership
Below are different categories of issues you might want to address through engagement with business services partners, including example goals --
filling open positions
increasing diversity
improving retention
skill building for new hires
training or upskilling current team members
You can skip any sections that do not apply to your organization.
When Your Goal Is Filling Open Positions
Are you trying to fill open positions? If so, you could express your need in a way that reflects one of these examples --
We need to hire, on average, 12 entry-level aides per year
We need to fill 16 construction positions by June 1 while meeting federal contract requirements.
We project that we need to hire 4 coders and 6 data analysts between June and December.
We have frequent needs for temporary fill-in customer service representatives
Kraig Kistinger of National Tube Supply was seeking to address talent shortages that have become common in the manufacturing and distribution sectors. “Like many organizations, we are experiencing a shift in our demographics with the Baby Boomer generation retiring and Generation Z onboarding,” says Kraig.
Un-Fun Fact: Kraig’s experience is far from unique. A study by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute found that by 2028, there will be 2.4 million unfilled manufacturing jobs. Baby Boomers are retiring in droves, in what has been called the Gray Wave, creating a deep skills gap that many manufacturers are struggling to fill.
Kraig was looking for an increase in the number of applications received. If your organization is struggling with too many open positions, consider what success would look like, and express it in quantitative terms.
When Your Goal Is Diversity
Your goal might have less to do with a total number of job openings to fill, and more to do with the diversity of the talent pool you are currently accessing. Diverse teams are a benefit to the overall health of organizations. A 2023 report by McKinsey & Company shows that in a survey of 1,265 companies, those organizations in the top quartile for ethnic diversity have a +36% likelihood of financial outperformance over their less-diverse peers.
For example, Kerry Griffin of MERGE was seeking greater diversity to promote better business results. According to Kerry, “Having a plethora of voices on our teams is important because when people have different specialties, backgrounds, and experiences, they bring unique ideas to the table. That's how we develop the most innovative solutions for our clients.” Her goal was to ensure that the Talent Team, which she led, presented a variety of diverse candidates for every hiring team to assess.
Jerry Baake of Advocate Aurora Health had a similar goal: “Ultimately, we want our workforce to represent and reflect the residents that we serve. That means we are making sure that we diversify at all levels of the organization, which will help improve health equity within the community as well.” Jerry and his team had clearly defined diversity, equity and inclusion goals and metrics they were seeking to meet as they engaged with business services partners.
Don Biernacke concurs.
“We recognize that in order to truly advance this industry with innovation, we must have a diversity of ideas. We simply can’t be of one mindset, and that means we have to invite many voices to the table to build the communities of the future.” Don Biernacki, Executive Vice President, Related Midwest
A goal related to diversity could be something like one of these --
We need to diversify the applicant pool for our software engineers to better reflect the demographics of our area. In order to achieve that, we need at least ten applicants per month who represent historically underrepresented minorities.
Within a year, we'd like to see our pool of applicants move toward a 60/40 gender split, compared to today's 70/30.
We’d like the pool of applicants to entry level roles to reflect the diversity of the neighborhoods we serve. We'd like to see 20 additional applicants per month who live within a five-mile radius of our Grosvenor location.
When Your Goal Is Retention
Are you seeking better retention of the employees you already have, or will hire in the future? Do you find that you are hiring more often than you'd like because employees aren’t staying with your company for long?
For Virgin Hotels in Chicago, low retention rates were a reason to seek partners. Their turnover (the percentage of employees who left a job within a period of one year) was lower than the high industry average, but they wanted to do better.
Un-Fun fact: Pre-COVID, the average for turnover in the hospitality industry was 78%, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2021, it skyrocketed to 130% – meaning on average, the same position turned over two or more times within a year.
Longer retention for certain roles was also a need at Aon, a large financial services firm. Aon was having trouble retaining employees in entry level insurance broking roles. Employees in those roles, who were required to have four-year degrees, wanted to move on to higher level roles quickly. The company supported career development, but the turnover left needed positions open too often.
Some goals related to increased retention might be --
Average retention for entry-level caregivers is at least 12 months
At least 75% of new hires in associate teller roles stay on the job for at least one year
Clarity around the level of retention you are seeking can help you decide what kind of partner you need.
When Your Goal Is Skill-Building For New Hires
Maybe your issue is not with your talent pool or retention, but with the baseline skills of typical applicants. Do you need to equip new hires to perform? For some roles, a week of intensive training with opportunities to practice new skills might be more efficient, or safer, than learning that happens solely on the job. If you decide that new-hire training is needed, you might need assistance designing the training, or even just paying for it.
An employer with these needs might identify a goal something like one of these --
A cost-efficient and effective way to train 20 employees per year in hazardous waste management
An onboarding program that equips graduates of a cybersecurity "boot camp" to work in your specific technical environment
Access to training funds and wage subsidies to reduce the costs associated with training new employees
A partner can help you decide whether you need custom training or can take advantage of programs that already exist. For example, City Colleges of Chicago collaborates with businesses to identify the most effective and cost effective option.
"We start by identifying their workforce needs to see if they match our programs or if we need to create new training pathways. Our goal is to build effective partnerships that benefit both our students and the employer and always approach our conversations with employer partners with flexibility." Connie Rutledge, Director of Apprenticeship and Workforce Partnership Development, City Colleges of Chicago
When Your Goal Is Training or Upskilling Current Employees
Maybe your industry is experiencing change (whose isn’t?). You might find yourself in need of fewer employees in certain roles, and more in newly created positions. Your goal could be to “upskill” existing employees to fill open roles and avoid layoffs.
An example of an upskilling goal comes from Advocate Aurora Health. The organization wanted to help staff move from entry level positions (for example, in food and environmental services) to middle-skill, higher-paying careers within the organization.
Another possibility is you have identified a training need for employees, and simply lack the resources to address the need. For example, Pete’s Fresh Market was seeking to raise the competency of its supervisors. Alita Bezanis and leadership at Pete’s recognized the need to teach store managers how to guide, train, and inspire the teams that they led.
“You know the saying: People quit their bosses, not their jobs. When we see folks heading out the door, they're not leaving Pete's, they're distancing themselves from the people they reported to.” - Alita Bezanis, Director of Organizational Development, Pete’s Fresh Market
Pete’s also found a need for English language training for some employees. The goal here was to raise the ability of frontline team members to communicate in English, so they wanted training tailored to a retail customer service context.
One more example: Freedman Seating found that some of its team members had been affected by gun violence. Freedman wanted to help support employees in overcoming resulting trauma.
If you have needs similar to Advocate Aurora or Pete’s Fresh Market or Freedman Seating, a partner may be able to subsidize the cost of training--especially if you are building in-demand skills among workers who have faced barriers to employment.
Perhaps your training or upskilling need is similar to one of these examples --
Our 20 roofers need to learn how to install solar panels, and earn PV Installation professional certifications.
After the compeltion of a new system implementation, we have less work for our coders, but we need more team members with database and report writing skills. We would like to reskill our team of 10 rather than lay them off and hire new people.
We need our 15 manufacturing employees to learn new machinery including CNC units.
Goals Worksheet
The following worksheet can help you clarify your goals and success metrics.
Handy Hack: Be sure to involve senior leadership and supervisors in identifying your goals. Get buy-in for the business results you are trying to achieve.
Identify and Research Partnership Options
Whether your primary goal is to fill gaps in your team, access sources of diverse talent, or upskill employees already on your team, you have choices about how to access free and subsidized services. Here are some ways to get started --
Connect with your local workforce board
Research options on a website
Talk to employer peers
Check out an educational institution
Consider a service such as RiseKit
We’ll look at each of these options.
Handy Hack: You may find it helpful to refer back to our overview of these organizations back in Chapter 3.
Ask Your Local Workforce Board
One option is to start with your local workforce board. Employers often access services through American Job Centers. For example, The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership funds ten American Job Centers (five in the city and five in suburban Cook County). Services are free, for both employers and jobseekers!
“Employers should first lower acquisition costs by leveraging WIOA [the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act] through The Partnership, which provides pre-trained individuals ready for the workforce and avoids expensive staffing agencies. The Partnership makes sure employers get the skilled workers they need fast by speeding up the training, basically stacking the deck with a ready-to-go workforce.” George Wright, CEO, The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership
Alita Bezanis of Pete’s Fresh Market turned to The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership when she had significant hiring needs. According to Alita, “At one point, we were opening a new store but hadn’t yet developed an HR department. There were hundreds and hundreds of applicants, and I was trying to handle it myself with one other person. It was chaotic with no system.” Alita and Pete’s Fresh Market received support from The Partnership’s network of business services partners. They helped with recruiting and screening. According to Alita, “Through The Partnership’s support, we were better prepared when it came time to open additional stores.”
Connect with The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership
The Partnership can provide customized training, on-the-job training, and incumbent worker training. The Partnership also can help affected workers if a company is downsizing by connecting them with resources to help them get back to work.
“The Partnership coordinates with businesses and many partner agencies to facilitate a Rapid Response Workshop for laid-off workers, informing them of their rights, responsibilities, and available resources, whenever there are anticipated large-scale company layoffs. We then coordinate job placement and training services for affected employees.” – Kathleen Brannigan, Business Services Manager, The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership
Research Options On a Website
Interested in considering a nonprofit organization as a partner? In some geographies, you can find an online directory of business services and partners. This is the case in Chicago and suburban Cook County, where you can access Talent Solutions Connector.
“The Talent Solutions Connector tool is a one-stop shop and is super helpful at providing increased access to applicants. Anybody, HR professional or not, looking to connect with workforce organizations can start there. It's so easy and makes the whole process feel less overwhelming.” - Sarah Brown, Director of People, Virgin Hotels
On the Talent Solutions Connector site, you can browse business services and partners by the type of service you are seeking -- e.g., recruiting and hiring; training & development; retention & inclusion; or best practices sharing (with other employers). Once you select a service, you can learn more about it right on the site. Here is an example --
If you find a service interesting, learn more about it by clicking the "Connect with this Service" button. Most business services partners have a page or area on their website that is directed to employers.
If you have needs in Cook County Illinois, visit Talent Solutions Connector to research a list of options in one place.
Talk to Employer Peers
Another option for getting engaged with your local workforce development ecosystem is to connect with people who are familiar with your sector or geography, and are leveraging business services partners to address talent challenges. For example, Sarah Brown of Virgin Hotels wanted to find an organization that works with individuals with disabilities. She was not sure where to start, so she reached out to a former colleague who was able to offer some suggestions.
If you do not happen to know someone with the information you need, you still have options. For example, the East Bank Club discovered prospective partners through an initiative called Reimagine Retail. Organized through the Aspen Institute and the Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance, Reimagine Retail supported retailers who were committed to maintaining a business advantage through employee-oriented operations proven to increase employee retention. According to then-Director of HR Kevin Brooks, as a result of participating in Reimagine Retail, the East Bank Club “completely flipped the switch” from using online ads for hiring to partnering with organizations such as Cara Collective and Skills for Chicagoland’s Future to find new hires.
“Connecting through the Reimagine Retail Lab was an invigorating peer connection experience. I spoke with five other employers who wanted to do the same thing I did and in that setting we could speak openly and honestly about our experiences. We discussed our concerns and past failures and how excited we were about making this happen.” - Sarah Brown, Director of People, Virgin Hotels
Another way to learn what peers are doing is through a sector partnership. For example, the Chicagoland Healthcare Workforce Collaborative (The Collaborative) leads a range of initiatives aimed at enhancing employment opportunities in the healthcare sector. The Collaborative and its members are experts on what works, and what does not. According to April Harrington, a Project Manager at The Collaborative, some employers have grown to understand the immense value of collaboration around identifying and developing talent, even with competitors.
If you are in Cook County, look for current opportunities to collaborate with peers on the Talent Solutions Connector website. If you aren’t in Cook County, try searching for “sector partnerships [your region].”
As of 2024, sector partnerships in the Chicago area include --
Chicagoland Healthcare Workforce Collaborative
Early Childhood Education Workforce Partnership
Calumet Manufacturing Industry Sector Partnership
Illinois Agri-Food Alliance
Healthcare Sector Center
Hospitality and Tourism Sector Center
Information Technology Sector Center
Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics Sector Center
The last four partnerships listed above are all managed by The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership. These sector centers connect employers with services to support business growth and economic development in four priority, high-demand sectors in Chicago and suburban Cook County.
There is no need to reinvent the wheel when a group of peers can speak to what works. And, understanding and embracing a collaborative mindset can yield significant benefits for organizations in any sector.
Check Out Higher Education Options
Your organization may find it imperative to equip employees with skills that are in demand in the job market. In that case, a local community or technical college might have ideas or even an existing program that could meet your needs.
Connie Rutledge of City Colleges of Chicago describes that institution's role as “a bridge between diverse talent and industry needs, making these collaborations as smooth and beneficial as possible.” City Colleges works with employers in many ways, for example --
directly connecting employers with students via job fairs and other recruiting efforts
designing custom training and apprenticeship programs
consulting directly with employers to create programs to train students
Joachim Borha of Olive-Harvey College (which is a part of the City Colleges of Chicago system) says they are able to help employers with a variety of talent challenges. “Some need help keeping workers, while others face issues with their teams' skill levels. This all prompts the need for customized training,” says Joachim. He notes that employers who wish to connect with their programs will first conduct a needs assessment to determine specific requirements. This ensures that any program developed will be as beneficial as possible - for the employer and the students that enroll.
“Our partnership with local employers, such as Method Soap and Whole Foods, involves creating tailored training that prepares our graduates to be standout candidates from the start. By choosing to work with us, employers gain access to a prepared, skilled workforce ready to make an immediate impact.” - Joachim Borha, Director of Grants Administration, Olive-Harvey College
You need not limit yourself to publicly funded schools. Tom Vranas of Zentro Internet worked closely with Lincoln College of Technology. Tom describes how his organization uncovered the value of a partnership with Lincoln.
"We began to notice that certain candidates had a uniqueness to them. They were more polished even though they tended to be younger and less experienced than others. We saw that they were Lincoln Tech graduates, and that prompted me to begin our relationship with them. Our partnership with Lincoln Tech has been unbelievably successful. For our construction roles in Chicago, they have become our exclusive sourcing partner." - Tom Vranas, Chief of Staff, Innovation & People, Zentro Internet
Consider RiseKit
All the options mentioned above are free to use–-and, they require investing time in researching and building relationships with potential partners. Another option is to collaborate with an aggregator of job candidates from community organizations: RiseKit. RiseKit is a community-driven recruitment platform changing how companies find untapped talent by sourcing candidates through community organizations. RiseKit automates job posting and job application status feedback loops to scale community hiring, connecting employers with hundreds of community organizations all at once. According to President and Co-Founder Matt Strauss, RiseKit is “LinkedIn for hard-to-reach populations.”
Ceceily Austin, Talent Acquisition Specialist of Howard Brown Health, used RiseKit to expand the number of community partners that they work with from just eight to over 100 in a year.
"We haven't seen a tool like RiseKit before that specializes in Community Engagement DEI Management Platform. This time-saving community partner management system provides the benefits of finding thousands of more diverse candidates.” - Ceceily Austin, Talent Acquisition Specialist, Howard Brown Health
Employers can start using RiseKit at no cost: You post a job, and RiseKit recommends candidates and provides contact information for them. A paid subscription (in 2024, $300-750/month) offers additional features. For example, paid subscribers can browse all candidates and integrate the program with their own applicant tracking system. Upper tier options include assistance with community outreach, a reporting dashboard, and other helpful features. The system also can be customized to an employer’s specific needs.
Check out RiseKit online
Connect With Candidate Partners
Once you have identified a few business services partners that might meet your needs, by all means, reach out directly. Depending on the partner, you might –
Use the contact information listed on the organization’s website
On the organization’s page in Talent Solutions Connector, use the “Connect with This Service” button
Ask for an introduction from a peer employer who has used the service
Get a referral from an American Job Center
Then you are ready to connect and collaborate. This section provides some advice from employers and business services partners on how to maximize the value of initial conversations.
Meet With Prospect(s)
Once you identify one or more business services partners that you want to work with, schedule a face-to-face or virtual conversation. Include one or more of your line supervisors in the meeting, to get their impressions and perspectives.
If you can, consider meeting at the prospective partner’s site. A visit enables you to tour the facility, sit in on a class with participants, or take a look at the computer lab. You can meet staff members and program participants.
Before the meeting, prepare! It’s helpful to have a specific, but flexible, agenda with a prospective partner. Ask yourself, “By the end of this meeting, I would like to have … “ what? For example -
Possible ways the organization could contribute to meeting my organization's needs and goals
Examples of how this organization goes about working with employer partners, including typical time frames and effort expended on the employer side
A list of achieved outcomes including metrics
An understanding of the subsidies or wage reimbursement opportunities that can support our efforts, and how this organization will work with our company to access funds
A list of employer references I can contact
Ask Questions
It’s helpful to walk in with a few questions ready to go. To prepare, in the table below, you can check the kinds of questions you might want to ask, and then tailor the questions to your needs. It’s likely you will not need all of these. Focus on the ones that make sense to you.
Category to Consider | Sample Questions |
Your specific needs |
|
Costs |
|
Best practices |
|
Talent pool demographics |
|
Your prerequisites |
|
Job readiness |
|
Program size |
|
Outcomes |
|
References |
|
Be Ready to Answer Questions
Any business services partner is likely to have questions for you, as well. While not exhaustive, below are some of the topics that migth come up during an initial meeting.
If you are seeking to hire --
Needs, goals, and success metrics
Types and numbers of positions that you need to fill, and how often
Job descriptions, including pay, benefits, and career advancement opportunities
Typical hiring process, including what candidates can expect during interviews
Typical issues that arise with candidates for these roles
What kinds of support from the organization would be helpful
If you are seeking to train, upskill, or reskill --
Job descriptions for the population you would like to train
Number of people you would like to train
Preferred timeframe for training to be completed
Performance and learning objectives
What constitutes “done” - certification? Passing a test? Completing a certain number of hours of training, or a course?
If you are seeking to retain employees you already have --
Issues that are leading to retention challenges, as captured by exit interviews, from supervisors, and other means
What you have tried, and results
Solutions you have considered and are interested in exploring
Additional Topics That May Arise
Expect that part of the meeting will be focused on just getting to know one another, as organizations and individuals.
According to Bianca DeRango, formerly of Jane Addams Resource Corporation (JARC), “Once we make an initial connection with an employer partner, we begin building a relationship immediately. Typically, an instructor and I will schedule an in-person meeting with the partner to get started. This allows us to understand exactly what the employer is looking for in a candidate. Once the connection is established, we begin recommending candidates.”
The organization may want a tour of your job site, or a chance to shadow a worker, to gain understanding of the environment and day-to-day tasks involved in the role.
Build Buy-In From Leadership
Along the way, consider the right time to share your research with leadership up and down the line at your organization. What have you learned? What next steps are you considering?
Ask for leadership’s input to your conclusions, strategies, and plans. Clarify what involvement they would like to have in next steps. Don’t hesitate to ask potential partners for their input as well: They have successfully partnered with many employers in your situation, and may already have a stack of helpful and encouraging metrics designed to inform and engage upper management.
Select a Partner
Your decision to work with a specific partner will likely come down to a combination of factors. A specific program might meet your criteria most clearly. You and your colleagues might be impressed by the caliber of a partner's work. Your team might experience especially good “chemistry” with a specific partner.
“The initial alignment of values and understanding of our culture is crucial, or there could be communication breakdowns. Some agencies perfectly sync with our vision, while others might miss the mark.” Marisela Williams, Human Resources Director, Freedman Seating
Here are few factors to consider as you make a decision to engage with a new business services partner.
Examine Organizational Approach
You may find that a particular business services partner’s approach aligns especially well with the needs of your organization.
For example, a 16-week paid transitional jobs training program at New Moms focuses on developing participants’ “executive skills,” which are 12 brain-based abilities that enables us to organize, react, and get things done for goal attainment. New Moms has won awards for this approach, which is backed by research and proven by experience. If that strategy aligns with the values of your organization and the requirements of the roles you are seeking to fill, then a partner like New Moms might be the right partner for you.
Heather Ronnow of Kronos Foods explains how her organization decided to work with Cara Collective: “We partnered with Cara because the students they work with are interested in developing life skills, and those soft skills line up with what we’re looking for in an employment setting.”
Christine Hill of Lettuce Entertain You, on the other hand. was more focused on post-placement support.
“Our focus was on the level of support these organizations could offer, benefiting their clients and enhancing our partnership.” Christine Hill, Director of Recruiting, Lettuce Entertain You
These are just a few examples of how employers consider organizational approach when selecting a business services partner.
Consider Practical Realities
In addition to organizational approach, you’ll want to gauge a prospective partner’s match with your organization’s practical needs. A partner’s training program may be stellar, but you’ll still lack or lose applicants if program graduates have no convenient way to get to work.
Here are criteria you might consider --
Partner’s experience with employers in your sector
Geography - Where do the program’s participants live? Can they get to your work site?
Your out-of-pocket costs associated with implementing suggested changes (if any)
Time investment of anyone in your organization
Hopefully your business services partner is a good match not only in terms of talent, but also in matching your organization’s situation and capabilities.
Consider Chemistry
In the end, one prospective partner might just seem to be a better fit. This could be because of the organization’s approach, its participants, its teams, or all of these. There might be a specific population your organization is interested in working with - does it match the population of prospective workers that this partner prioritizes?
Kerry Griffin of MERGE has been “all in” with partner CareerSpring for many reasons.
“I was exposed to CareerSpring through our private equity partner. Being a first generation student myself, I was immediately drawn to the mission. The more I learned, the more I loved. From the founder to the internal leadership and external volunteers, there's something so special about everyone. I praise CareerSpring's efforts and their success. I cherish my involvement with the board as well as my opportunity to advise and influence the bright careers of this deserving group.” - Kerry Griffin, Chief Talent Officer, MERGE
Chemistry isn’t the only criterion to consider, but it can be important in establishing and maintaining motivation to collaborate with a partner, through bumps as well as successes.
Simple Evaluation Tool
Below is a sample tool you could use to evaluate prospective partners. It assumes you might want to consider --
Approach: How the organization recruits, trains, and supports participants, and the outcomes achieved by the organization
Logistics: How well does the organization fit your specific needs? What financial and time commitments are required?
Chemistry: What is your general “fit” with the prospective partner? Who is the organization serving, and who is the team with whom you would be working?
Of course, you should adjust the criteria and weighting to fit your own priorities. You can “score” each prospective partner however you wish - for example 0-100%, or High / Moderate / Low. While not a precise instrument, a tool like this can give you a directional indication of which prospective partners come closest to meeting your needs.
Category | Weight | Criteria | Score |
Approach | 40% | Training focus Support provided Outcomes achieved | |
Logistics | 40% | Geography Experience in our sector Out-of-pocket costs Time investment on our side | |
Chemistry | 20% | Populations of interest Team Quality of references |
Summing Up ...
Hopefully this chapter has provided some helpful tips for engaging with business services partners who make up the workforce ecosystem.
“Many employers skip crucial steps, essentially putting the cart before the horse and hiring without setting clear goals or a solid plan. … Yes, acting quickly is important, but being strategic is equally crucial. Without a thoughtful approach, you risk spinning your wheels and facing the same hiring challenges repeatedly. It's about balancing immediate needs with a well-thought-out strategy for your workforce.” George Wright, CEO, The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership
Remember that you can get support at every step along the way. Irene Sherr of Cook County’s Bureau of Economic Development says, “I'd encourage employers to reach out to local resources. There are support systems that can help resolve various challenges they may be facing.”
Below is an engagement checklist you can use. Use a ✓ for strategies you'd like to explore and a ✗ for those that are not relevant to your current situation.
1. Name and clarify your needs
𝥁 Download the Expanded Talent Strategy Goals Worksheet
𝥁 Choose most pressing needs
𝥁 Get buy-in from leadership
2. Identify and research options (some or all of the following may be helpful)
𝥁 Use Talent Solutions Connector
𝥁 Talk to your peers
𝥁 Check out higher education options
𝥁 Consider RiseKit
3. Connect with candidates
𝥁 Meet with prospective partner(s)
𝥁 Share your most pressing needs
𝥁 Ask and answer questions
𝥁 Build buy-in from your own leadership
4. Select a partner
𝥁 Consider organizational approach
𝥁 Consider practical realities
𝥁 Consider chemistry
𝥁 Download the Business Partner Evaluation Tool