According to CareerSource Capital Region, there are 10,830 job openings in Gadsden, Leon and Wakulla Counties. That means there's two jobs for every one unemployed person in the Capital Region.
Now, one workforce development organization is working to connect employers to local job seekers.
"Business are going to get smart about this and we're going to help them do that in our region," said Jim McShane.
According to Career Source Capital Region, over 15,000 new jobs are needed in Leon County alone by 2030.
CEO Jim McShane said they're currently working to better connect local job seekers with employers to help fill that need.
"If they can't find a job or a job that pays a living wage in this area, they're going to go to Atlanta or Miami or Orlando or Tampa," said McShane.
Over 100 people attending CareerSource's Talent Innovation Summit are looking for solutions to finding those qualified employees and retaining them.
"We're talking about solutions here today to open up how your hiring practice is," said McShane. "It's not the same as before Covid. You need to start to change that and be more flexible."
They're helping employers find hidden talent in our communities from job seekers they wouldn't have looked at before, like people with disabilities, refugees, youth or formerly incarcerated.
McShane believes employers also need to shift their requirements to ensure they're not barriers for qualified candidates.
"Start to focus on what are the skills sets that the business community needs around here and how do we make sure those skill sets are being trained in our curriculum," said McShane.
McShane said they're working with higher education institutions, like Tallahassee Community College and Lively Technical College, to ensure that students are taught the proper skills for their desired industry and to increase the talent pipeline for targeted industries such as healthcare, education and construction.
This is something Brit Kent is desperately needing.
"We're promoting more people going to college these days than we are promoting them just to get out and get a job that pays well and you don't have to go to college to get a job that pays well," said Kent.
Kent is the owner of Kent's Property Preservation; a local remodeling company. He currently has nine employees, but is hoping to add three or four more by the end of this year. However, he's had issues with finding and retaining qualified candidates.
"Getting workers is very hard right now and its important to us to find all aspects and any avenues that we can to be able to get and retain good employees," said Kent.
Kent is excited to connected with more hidden talent in our communities.
"I currently retain two second chance employees at our business and just wanted to make sure that we can try to see what we can do to further that," said Kent.
McShane said they're also working to partner with The Chamber and Leon County Schools to target 5th and 6th graders to expose them to the different career paths they can take and what skills they'd need to get a job after high school in our region.
