Southern Indiana professionals talk young talent acquisition, retention

The report card compares all states in 62 areas with four main themes: oustanding talent, attractive business climate, superior infrastructure and dynamic and creative culture.

“There are a number of positive developments – both taking place every day and in our latest research – that are cause to celebrate. But it is also evident that a lack of workers…. is keeping the state from realizing its full potential," Kevin Bringer, Indiana Chamber President.

Approximately 65 percent of employers required less than a bachelor’s degree for their unfilled positions and yet 79 percent claim to struggle to find workers.

The two biggest challenges for employers are finding applicants and or finding applicants that accept the pay rate.

A panel of four young and local professionals with unique insight gathered Tuesday to share their perspective on how the report card pertains to Southern Indiana specifically.

"I think a unique challenge that we have specifically with young professionals and millennials.... is the stigma of our community. I think a lot of folks who grew up in this area left this area because of the stigma," said Josh Kornberg, assistant director of advancement at Ivy Tech of Sellersburg.

"I think a huge problem is that we have Louisville on the other side of the river and from their standpoint Indiana is not somewhere you envision a lot of activity," said Brigid Morrissey, owner of Cloud Atlas Marketing and co-founder of the Root, a coworking space coming to New Albany this fall.

Andrea Smallwood, a financial advisor for Northwestern Mutual, and Rachel Province, operations and business development manager for Transformation Network, agreed that there is almost a rivalry between residents of Louisville and Southern Indiana.

Another factor is the opioid epidemic, a crisis with affecting touching almost every sector and aspect of daily life.

One key component of Province's job is finding employees for industrial manufacturing jobs. It is hard to find employees that can pass a drug test and will work for $10 to $12 an hour, according to Province.

Companies that don't drug test and offer $13 an hour easily bring in employees but don't necessarily have success in keeping them around, she explained.

"The companies that are having the most success with retention... are investing more time in guiding their employees to career pathways. They are taking more time with leadership and supervisor training and really investing in the people," Province said.

Morrissey said more art-related events, such as concerts and art galleries, would give millennials and young professionals something to do in the area other than "eat" and "drink at a bar."

"We really need to think about this in terms of who we are building our state for and who we are building our communities for," said Wendy Dant Chesser, President and CEO of One Southern Indiana.