Lost Pools Of Talent

The labor market in Northern Virginia is tight. Salaries (and real estate prices) are sky high. Here, and around the country, the story is talent shortage. The problem isn't a lack of good prospects. Your human resources department has no imagination. Your workforce development professionals are using outdated paradigms. The solution is in your neighborhood:

"I had seen all these talented people dropping out of the profession around me and had the idea to go back and find out what all these women were doing.

"These women feel they have been forgotten and their skills don't matter anymore."

She added: "We have built a business around a skillset that has not been tapped into. We have fantastic lawyers of City caliber who can deliver results.

"We are using people that have disappeared from the market. I'm keen to challenge the idea that professional women with children should be given work out of sympathy rather than be seen as a fantastic business proposition."

I live in Northern Virginia, juggling stay-at-home dad duties and a blossoming career as a talent geographer. My peer group is made up of mostly college-educated mothers with a variety of occupational arrangements ranging from full time homemaker to full time jobs with substantial travel. I have more intellectually stimulating conversations at the playground than I did while in graduate school. Sitting on a park bench is an immense reserve of world class skills.

Regions are focused on talent attraction and retention, instead of talent development. People develop, not places. What can your town do to get these women back in the game? Wasting brains is a much bigger issue than brain drain or brain gain.

Paying Lip Service To Talent Attraction

Concerning the war for talent, most states and regions simply don't get it. The game is one of attraction, not retention. But the latter still receives all the resources:

We Live New York is a statewide organization of young leaders that seeks to attract and retain young talent. The group is teaming with the Empire State Development Corp. and the New York State Urban Council to fund a $50,000 grant for young professionals organizations. Each award will be between $500 and $2,000, and will be given to 10 to 15 YP organizations across the state. ...

... We Live New York also seeks to connect young leaders and YP organizations from across the state to share ideas and collaborate on items that help retain young people. ...

... Projects, Cooney said, can be anything from an outdoor concert to enhancing green space in urban areas, so long as it improves the quality of life for young people in New York. "You name it, we can help fund it," he said.

Established leaders realize the value of retaining young talent.

"The energy that's driving revitalization across the country is the young professionals," said Heidi Zimmer-Meyer, president of the Rochester Downtown Development Corp. "We think if we can tether these mobile young leaders to tangible city building projects, we stand a much better chance of keeping them in New York state."

There is no mention of funding for initiatives designed to attract young talent, which is the real issue that New York State faces. The taxpayers are throwing money down the brain drain and cities such as Rochester will continue to suffer.

Engineering inmigration is difficult. New York would be better off giving money to experiments that hope to attract out-of-staters to live in urban neighborhoods in need of revitalization. Keeping graduates from moving to NYC doesn't solve anything. It will, however, do considerable harm to the prosperity of those who stay. It also helps to entrench the chronic economic problems plaguing Upstate cities.

The return on investment for We Live New York is negative.

Burgh Diaspora Blog Sightings

Lately, I'm seeing more of my work here pop up elsewhere. I have to thank Aaron Renn and his Urbanophile blog for the publicity. Otherwise, I don't think my ideas end up on the Next American City website:

But as Jim Russell points out at Burgh Diaspora, not all talent is created equal. Indeed, it may not be graduates that you want, necessarily, but migrants. Migrants are especially entrepreneurial, and the further they’ve come to get to your city, the better.

ErieBlogs picked up on the conversation:

Erie isn’t the only city crying brain drain….larger cities like Milwaukee can’t seem to attract young college grads. But is that really the answer? Short but interesting discussion in Next American City.

I can tell you that city, state and even national governments are interested in what we bloggers have to say. So much, in fact, that certain experts are threatened by amateur opinion. That's how John Austin's shot across my bow felt. Actually, such a dismissal is quite flattering. Not too bad for noodling.

Finally, I want to express my appreciation to Brian Kelsey of Civic Analytics for plugging my blog on a few occasions:

Aaron Renn and Jim Russell are two of my favorite thinkers in the world of planning and regional development. You can find Aaron at The Urbanophile and Jim at Burgh Diaspora.

Blogging is a great medium for exchanging knowledge. Experts and professionals needn't feel insulted. Set us noodlers straight and we'll all benefit.