[TRANSCRIPT]
0:00:00 - (Doug Jenkins): Coming up next on chamber amplified.
0:00:02 - (Jon Husted): Certifications, licenses, things like that are great ways for you to move into those career opportunities. A CDL, for example, is a type of credential that can lead to a lot of higher paying jobs in the trucking industry.
0:00:22 - (Doug Jenkins): Welcome to the show. I'm Doug Jenkins from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. On each episode of Chamber Amplified, we're examining issues that impact the local business community. It can be anything from employee recruitment and retention, which is where we'll focus this week. But we also talk about things like marketing it issues.
0:00:38 - (C): It's really anything that can have an.
0:00:40 - (Doug Jenkins): Impact on your business and beyond. Our goal is to give our members tips each week on at least one way they can improve operations and thrive.
0:00:47 - (C): In the current business environment.
0:00:49 - (Doug Jenkins): So if you own or manage a business, chances are either you're doing some hiring right now, you're looking to hire someone in the future, maybe the near future, or you've recently done some hiring. Whatever the case is, you know that it's hard to fill open positions right now. And certainly there are jobs that are in high demand, and it can seem like there's just not a big enough pool of candidates to fill the openings.
0:01:09 - (Doug Jenkins): My guest today is Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted. We're delving into one way Ohio is working to make sure that you have qualified applicants available in demand. Jobs Week is coming up in May, and the lieutenant governor will talk about that. Plus, we also delve into things like the tech cred program and efforts to try and bring people back to Ohio to fill open positions. Thanks again for tuning in. Remember, if you're listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, you can rate and review the show. It really does help spread the word. I think a lot of other platforms.
0:01:36 - (C): Are doing reviewing now. So whatever you're listening, go ahead, review us.
0:01:39 - (Doug Jenkins): We appreciate it. Now let's get into it. In Demand's Job Week is coming up.
0:01:45 - (C): Here in about a month from when this podcast goes live May 6 through May 10. This is all part of an effort to guide people in Ohio to jobs that look like they have growth opportunities. What can you tell us about the 2024 edition?
0:02:00 - (Jon Husted): Well, we still are in a situation in Ohio where we have more jobs than we have people to fill them. Right now on ohiomeansjobs.com, comma, we have around 180,000 total jobs, and in addition to that, we have around 106,000 of them that pay more than $50,000 a year. A lot of those higher paying jobs don't require a college degree. So there are a lot of wonderful opportunities out there. Just in the Hancock county area, there are 13,586 jobs posted, so, you know, that's a lot of jobs for your area.
0:02:45 - (Jon Husted): And so it's a great opportunity for people who want to find a job, maybe want to change careers, to really expose them to all the opportunities that are available right in your local community.
0:03:00 - (C): So when we talk about these jobs that are open and may not require a college education, is it, is it.
0:03:05 - (Doug Jenkins): A certification or credentialing issue that we.
0:03:07 - (C): Just need to get people, if they can get this certificate, they're probably going to find themselves in a higher income bracket.
0:03:14 - (Jon Husted): Yeah, I mean, it is a lot of, a lot of jobs. A lot of employers are saying, hey, we don't really need you to have a degree. We need you to have a skill. And certifications, licenses, things like that are great ways for you to move into those career opportunities. A CDL, for example, is a type of credential that can lead to a lot of higher paying jobs in the trucking industry. A certification in some type of computer coding, a certification in a type of welding or other type of manufacturing skill.
0:03:56 - (Jon Husted): Robotics. These are short term credentials that lead to opportunities to not only start into a career path, but then you can continue to build on those, you know, stair step them, add credentials that can lead to better opportunities so that credentialing process works great. The manner in which you can access those credentials for our high school students, your local career center or career high school, has so many different ways for you to earn credentials and be career ready before you even leave high school.
0:04:35 - (Jon Husted): There's adult education training centers, and then we have programs like Techcred, which allows any adult in Ohio to earn an in demand tech skill, usually in weeks or months, and help them secure new employment opportunities, have more job security and higher pay.
0:04:53 - (Doug Jenkins): The great news with the tech cred.
0:04:55 - (C): Program is for employers. There's a benefit to employers for enrolling or having their employees roll in these types of programs as well. So not only do you get the benefit as an employee, but the employer gets the benefit of upscaling people who are already on their workforce. What is the state's role in helping promote this or helping make sure that those paths have as least resistance as possible?
0:05:18 - (Jon Husted): Yeah, tech cred's one of those things I take a little pride in. Ownership is it was an idea that I had when I became lieutenant governor. And really it works like this. If you're an employer, you pick the employee or the potential employee that you would like to enroll in the training program you apply. It's a very simple process. We do it every other month in the state of Ohio. You pick the employee, you pick the skill that you want them to earn, and then you enroll them in a program of your choice that will help educate them or train them, help them learn that skill. And then once you complete it, we reimburse you for the cost of that credentialing process. So it gives the employer a better trained employee, and it gives the individual a skill that makes them employable, gives them job security, gives them higher pay, usually.
0:06:09 - (Jon Husted): And so it's just a win win for everyone. We've seen thousands of employers. So if you're in the Hancock County Findlay area and you're not using Techcred as an employer, you're missing an opportunity to upskill your workforce. Because every other month we literally will help your employees or your potential employees earn a new skill so that they can add value to what you do.
0:06:34 - (Doug Jenkins): Most definitely.
0:06:35 - (C): We have a full podcast with Trisha Velesque of raise the bar in Hancock county on that topic, which we'll link to in the show notes for this. Steve Stivers. Apparently I'm just dropping names left and right here, but we had Steve Stivers on the podcast a few weeks back, and we were talking about some of the things we're talking about here, where we have this large amount of open jobs both in Hancock county and all across the state.
0:06:55 - (C): Part of it is getting people credentialed for those jobs. Part of it is retaining residents and bringing residents back. As far as your role and that what do you see as being useful tool to bring people back to the state.
0:07:11 - (Jon Husted): So that's always a complicated one because first of all, our responsibility in state government is to help Ohio citizens. So we're really focused on job training, upskilling, education, so that every Ohioan who can work does work. And that's our first priority. But let's face it, when you have a growing economy, and if you want to keep that economy growing in the world that we live in with, with declining demographics, then you're going to have to recruit some people.
0:07:41 - (Jon Husted): And so the easiest targets to recruit new people are former Ohioans, maybe somebody that grew up here, somebody that went to school here, somebody that maybe used to work here, somebody that has a family connection here. It's really targeting those individuals with making them aware of the job opportunities that we have through programs like Ohio means jobs, but jobs. Ohio is using efforts to collect data on people who have those connections to Ohio, taking it from places like LinkedIn and other places, and then pushing out those job opportunities to them so that they can see what's available here in their home state.
0:08:25 - (Jon Husted): And it works pretty well when we do that. And Ohio has an advantage over a lot of coastal states in the sense that it's more affordable to live here. So if you think of all the jobs in the Findlay area, let's say that you have somebody that grew up in Findlay, went to Findlay High School, went off to college outside of the state of Ohio, or married somebody outside of the state of Ohio, and now they're living there in, you know, say they're living in New York or someplace like that, and they're having a hard time making ends meet, even though they have great jobs and a lot of income.
0:09:06 - (Jon Husted): Then you show them the comparison about what it's like to live in Findlay and how affordable it is and how you could have a house that's four times as big as the one you have right now, a low stress lifestyle, and have a lot more money in your pocket at the end of the month after you pay all the bills. Particularly as young people get older, they see the virtue in that kind of lifestyle, particularly if they want to raise children and have a family.
0:09:30 - (Jon Husted): And so those are good kinds of examples of how, you know, we can target people to bring them back to Ohio and to take advantage of our growing economy and the need for talent.
0:09:44 - (C): The nice part about that is the infrastructure is here. Whether you want to come back to OhiO and live in a larger city or if you want to have a more rural lifestyle, the infrastructure is there to support a business, regardless of the community that you're in. So I think that's a big advantage that Ohio offers as well. Lieutenant governor, we know your time's limited today. If people want to find more information about in demand jobs week or just what's happening on the job fronts in Ohio, what's the best way to get more resources and information for that?
0:10:12 - (Jon Husted): Well, I would encourage people to go to topjobs dot Ohio Dot Gov Week. That's how we do it. Just go to topjobs dot Ohio dot Gov, and you'll be able to find more information about in demand jobs a week. But use these resources, explore them. Ohio means jobs, top jobs. And this is a great resource for educators so that they know what kind of jobs are out there. And it's a great resource to find access to job training.
0:10:42 - (Jon Husted): In demand jobs week really is just highlighting the great career opportunities we have out there. I know that even Doug, you know everything about what's going on in the Findlay area. There's still things that I'm sure you can learn, you know about it that you didn't know, because I learned, you know, I learn new things all the time looking, looking through this data and because it changes, let's face it, if you were looking through these resources two years ago, you wouldn't have found anything about AI on there. And now you see all of the stuff related to AI and the job training opportunities there. Ten years ago, cloud computing wasn't a thing. Now it's a big thing. Now it's the fastest growing, one of the fastest growing segments of the economy.
0:11:31 - (Jon Husted): So all of this is, these are great resources to see what is and what's coming.
0:11:37 - (C): Very good, Jon, we appreciate you joining us today.
0:11:40 - (Doug Jenkins): Thanks for being on the podcast.
0:11:42 - (Jon Husted): Thank you.
0:11:47 - (Doug Jenkins): Thanks again to Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted for joining us on the podcast. Certainly a lot of information there. We'll have the link to in demand jobs week in the show notes. We'll also include a link to a previous podcast we did about the tech cred program. That'll all again be in the show notes. Speaking of the tech cred program, now that we're into a new quarter, there is another round of applications available so that that might be worth looking into for your business.
0:12:10 - (Doug Jenkins): Chamber Amplified is a free podcast for the community thanks to the investment of members of the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. Because of our robust membership, we're able to focus on providing timely information to the Findlay and Hancock county business community, run leadership programs for both adults and teenagers, and be an advocate for the area while also providing tools to help local businesses succeed.
0:12:31 - (Doug Jenkins): If that sounds like something you'd like to be a part of, just let me know and we can talk about how an investment in the chamber really helps strengthen the community as a whole as well as your business. That'll do it for this week's episode. If you have any ideas for topics we should cover in the future, just send me an email djinkinsleyhancockchamber.com dot. Remember, if you're listening on our website, that works for you, but you can have each and every episode of Chamber amplify delivered straight to your phone.
0:12:55 - (Doug Jenkins): Just search for us in your favorite podcast player. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time on chamber amplified from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.