The Center for Economic Growth (CEG) has a new program offering to regional employers who are in need of comprehensive support in recruitment and retention of valued talent.
Talent Connect will provide several different services to address the challenges that face today’s relocating professionals in a variety of innovative ways, including pre-hire consultations, dual career support, community integration and cultural transitioning, said CEG officials.
“Talent Connect provides a crucial piece to the puzzle for both employers seeking the right candidates as well as employees looking to relocate for work, and we are excited to add the program to CEG’s service offerings,” said Michael Hickey, CEG’s interim president and CEO. “Not only will this program benefit our investors, it ties into the region’s Capital 20.20 talent strategy, focused on attraction and retention of a qualified workforce for our local companies.”
The program will enhance recruitment and retention of professional talent for area employers, and break the personal and professional isolation often associated with transitioning professionals to a new location.
CEG officials said Talent Connect will provide substantive support, enabling professionals to integrate more quickly into a professional network, take root in their new communities, and connect to what’s important to them. It will also enable employers seeking talent with a competitive edge by giving them visibility to relocating talent.
While the Talent Connect program is a new offering at CEG, the concepts had its roots out of Tech Valley Connect (TVC), officials said. Tech Valley Connect was an innovative initiative that originally started as a pilot program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2009 and soon after transitioned into an independent non-profit.
Although Tech Valley Connect’s program was created to improve the retention rate for the region’s employers, it turned into something bigger, providing career support services for newly locating professionals and those with families transitioning to the Capital Region, as well as comprehensive community integration and cultural transitioning. The program started at TVC is now being replicated in California and Maine, officials said.
“The new Talent Connect under the Center for Economic Growth will have access to a much larger platform and be able to better serve the business and academic communities of the Capital Region by offering innovative recruitment and retention support services in a centralized and efficient way. CEG is where most employers would look for this type of support, so this is a common sense solution,” said Angela McNerney, president and CEO of Tech Valley Connect.
“The program at Tech Valley Connect has been very successful, and CEG is confident that we will be able to provide high quality services to promote and enhance the region’s employment opportunities and sense of community through our Talent Connect program.”
CEG named a program team consisting of Joanne Bucher, program manager and Danielle Roberts, communications specialist. John Giordano, director of investor relations for CEG will take on the role of director.
CEG is the regional economic development organization for the greater Capital Region and New York’s Tech Valley and also serves as the Capital Region’s designated Regional Technology Development Center.
For more information on CEG’s strategic initiatives and technology service programs, visit www.ceg.org or call 465-8975.