I ran into a friend last week who said she heard my interview with Steve Novotney on WKKX.  She said there was a lot of buzz in her workplace and folks had several questions for her (I’m assuming she said she knew me).  I plan to address all of these questions here on the blog and on the main site when possible / appropriate.

The biggest one to me is, “I live here.  Can I use this site?  Will employers not look at my resume or application?”

TakeMeHomeOhioValley.com is definitely open to job seekers who already live in the valley.  (Bold usage for dramatic effect.)

Our Careers Web Site Goals

We built our West Virginia careers site – covering surrounding counties in Ohio and Pennsylvania, too – with three objectives, in no particular order:

• Help job seekers find employment in the Upper Ohio Valley
• Help employers find skilled talent
• Help attract outside businesses to our area by being able to show a skilled, accessible labor pool

Types of Career Seekers

Although they all interact with one another, the bottom two hinge on #1 – helping career seekers.  We have three ways to reach three different types of career seekers:

1. Retain local talent
2. Get folks from the Valley to move back
3. Entice people with no connection to the area to move here for work

Although I have recently met several folks who fall into the third category through organizations like OVConnect, that’s the tougher sell.  As people experienced with economic development and hiring talent in our region and throughout West Virginia will tell you, it’s not hard to get folks to move here once they’ve visited, but it can be difficult to get them to consider initially.

Keeping that in mind, we’re concentrating more heavily on the lower hanging fruit if you will – folks living here already or folks with a prior connection that want to move back.

Yes, We Want Local Residents

Reaching people who would like to move back is crucial as it helps expand our talent pool.  But we certainly don’t want to lose the people already calling communities like Wheeling, Wellsburg, Glen Dale, and Martins Ferry home.  So if you’re living here, please use the site and let all of your friends looking for work (already here and those that want to move here) about it.

Preference for Out-of-Towners?

Getting back to the question about whether employers will have preferences for out-of-towners. Hmmm. I think the answer is that it depends on the employer. Keep in mind that most of the employers listed on our site aren’t connected with TakeMeHomeOhioValley.com in any way; they’re just looking for the best candidates to fulfill their open positions.

As a business owner I can tell you from my personal / professional opinion only – not speaking on anyone else’s behalf – that I just want the best fit. While there can be benefits and drawbacks to hiring someone from outside the area, I’m more concerned with getting my organization to excel. And the only way I can do that is by getting the right people on the bus.

Tags: local residents, Ohio Valley, recruiting former residents, retaining talent