By Jim Edmonson
The old business model for locating a business was to locate near your raw materials, particularly if you were a manufacturer. Another location factor was to locate where your customers were located. Today it is becoming more apparent that the new business model will be to locate where your talent needs reside. Before, employees traveled to jobs; today and into the future, employers will travel to clusters of talent. This, in large part, is due to the advancement of global supply and distribution channels.
Do you know what your community talent base includes? If not, you need to inventory your talents and use your excess talent base to target market business. Another way to approach the issue is to look at what talents are most in need. A 2007 Manpower, Inc. Annual Talent Shortage Survey identifies the following as the “10 Hardest-to-Fill Jobs in the U.S.”
1. Sales Representative
2. Teacher
3. Mechanic
4. Technician
5. Management/Executive
6. Truck Driver
7. Driver/Delivery
8. Accountant
9. Laborer
10. Machine Operator
From this list one can easily conclude that business services, transportation/distribution, and manufacturing are three sectors looking for talent. If you can identify a surplus of talent in these occupations, you just identified three target sectors for your attraction program.
For more help with business attraction strategies, give us a call at Whittaker Associates.