It's one thing to say businesses want to attract talent, but how do they accomplish that? And what do they do with the talent when they get it?
Experts in the Tampa Bay area took to the stage Wednesday afternoon at the Synapse Summit to address those questions and dive deeper into the issue of getting and keeping talent in Tampa Bay.
"When I came here I saw an amazing opportunity, but not one everyone necessarily believed and now you see they believe," said Rebecca White, director for the University of Tampa Center for Entrepreneurship.
"It's up to all of us to collaborate, to ensure we have the talent we need to build Tampa Bay and our community. I encourage all of you to collaborate and work together and make this an even more amazing, talented area."
"the quality of people bring intrinsic values. You can supplement a business quickly and work on some of the harder skills later."
One of the ways some higher-ups in the area are doing just that is flipping the idea of hiring for the job on its head: They're hiring people who fit the culture and understand that the skills will come later.
"You heard people talk about the culture and looking at it first, because the quality of people bring intrinsic values," said Vincent Jackson, CEO of CTV Capital and former wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. "You can supplement a business quickly and work on some of the harder skills later; we have corporations growing faster than they can keep up with and talent needs to grow as well."
Attracting job seekers is one thing, but some argued that work should be done before the tassel is even moved across a student's graduation cap.
"The people are the foundation, whether it's technology or analog type business; they have to succeed and thrive," said Jillian Roberts, co-founder and CEO of Xendoo. "We source people through Indeed referrals, but from the trip over here, it's opened my eyes — we have to source from the college level before they get into the workforce."
The easiest way to help recruit college students straight off the campus, according to the panelists, is to work directly with the multiple institutions in the Tampa Bay area.
"If you're an entrepreneur, get engaged in an institution," said Saif Ishoof, vice president and engagement senior fellow at Florida International University. "If you believe you have skills and companies aren’t seeking them, get engaged. Leaders are hungry to get that type of insight from business leaders. The other thing which is equal importance is we’re also learning about universal learners which are a bit older."
The University of South Florida Muma College of Business is working on those universal leaders, who may be trying to finish or add a new degree, or could just be learning for fun.
"We're really trying to create programs just for these lifelong learners," said Moez Limayem, dean at the Muma College of Business. "We have evening classes, data analysts have a weekend program for those who want to equip themselves for their current job or another job. And we're also online. We offer several programs online but even these lifelong learners who aren’t interested in degree have these non-degree programs."
