Workforce campaign shows promising early results

BY WALLY GOULET

North Dakota continues to have the lowest unemploy ment rate in the countr y with literally thousands of jobs available in high-demand industries like health care, technology, construction, energy, agriculture, transportation, engineering, management, retail and many others. We have great schools, family-fr iend ly communities and wide-open spaces with endless options for outdoor recreation, as well as excellent arts, culture and retail opportunities across the state.

The Find the Good Life in North Dakota initiative is a workforce recruitment campaign star ted by the Nor th Dakota Economic Development Foundation. It is a private/public sector-funded program designed to help solve the greatest challenge facing our business community: workforce development, recruitment and retention The goal of the program is to attract permanent workers and their families to North Dakota so we have the workforce we need to support our state’s healthy economy and business growth

The initiative will use a variety of traditional, digital and nontraditional marketing tactics to reach each of the target audiences Tactics include:

• Paid digital advertising to reach targeted job seekers in other states.

• Visiting military bases, job fairs and college campuses to promote North Dakota and the opportunities available.

• Targeted digital and traditional media instate to encourage residents to invite their friends and families to move here

• Educating new North Dakota residents and temporary workers to the benefits of making our state their home.

• Media relations to increase awareness of the opportunities our state has and to enhance the image of North Dakota as an attractive place to live.

The initiative, which launched in March, has shown promising initial results The FindtheGoodLifeinNorthDakota.com website has attracted over 50,000 unique visitors and JobsND com has more than 142,000 new users since mid-May. The digital campaign has resulted in over 23 million impressions. We have heard from a number of employers who have hired employees as a direct result of hiring events Transitioning military has also indicated that they will be looking in the next six to nine months for North Dakota opportunities

Businesses are asked to consider joining in efforts to improve awareness of North Dakota our economy, jobs, quality of place and recreational offerings Companies or individuals in eastern North Dakota interested in donating to the campaign should contact Dav id Williamson at 651-485-8101 or dav idwilliamson@baldwin-telecom net In western North Dakota, contact Terry Fleck at 701-2239768 or tfleck@attitudedr com PB

Wally Goulet Chairman, N D Economic Development Foundation Vice President and General Counsel National Information Solutions Cooperative