In January, RBTC launched an innovative new webinar series designed to take a deep dive into the regional tech talent landscape. RBTC developed the series to be an accessible way to help members of the local innovation ecosystem better understand what has historically shaped local tech talent today and what they can expect for the future.
Tech Talent Conversation Meets Needs with Membership
The 4-part webinar series was a success, garnering robust participation, with approximately 120 participants. Clearly the topic struck a chord.
“The Tech Talent series was informative and gave me insight into some data points I was unaware of. This information will be valuable as we try to stay ahead of trends in the labor market, both in our state and local region,” said Cory Fobare, Regional Sales Manager at CBIZ Human Capital Management.
Webinar: Tech Talent Pilot Recap
The Tech Talent Series was led by Stuart Mease, founder of Mease Consulting. Throughout his career, Stuart has focused on connecting people to create mutually beneficial relationships. He has served within the private, governmental, and higher education sectors working in diversity recruiting, mentoring, career services, and outreach. His expertise and experience made him a natural pick to lead the pilot series. Stuart took participants through the four-part series step-by-step. Below is a summary of the issues he discussed.
Webinar 1: It’s Working — An Overview of the RBTC Tech Member Industry Index
The webinar focused on RBIA efforts to create a greater impact in for startups and job creation. The early results are in and it’s working! Stuart led participants through industry sectors that are growing and declining and how that relates to the national average so they could set target salaries for incoming talent and retain existing talent.
Webinar 2: Talent – What We Have and What We Want and Need
The session led participants through a deep dive of the current state of local talent based on LinkedIn profiles and job postings. Attendees walked away with an understanding of the demographics and mix of talent currently in the innovation ecosystem by years of experience, degree, program of study, hard skills, soft skills, certifications and more. By the end of the webinar participants had good grasp of what talent the region has and what still needs to be developed.
Webinar 3: Talent Gaps – Occupations, Certificates and Education Output
RBTC presented an ongoing data analysis of the region’s workforce, and identified a handful of occupations that appear to be driving the past, present and future growth of the technology and health and life science industries. Participants examined these occupations and discussed a three-prong approach to meeting the demand of this growth sector.
Webinar 4 – Model to Achieve Labor Market Equilibrium
This session presented a framework to proactively grow & retain, transform, and import the most in-demand talent by occupation, skills, certifications, and awards to enhance the Roanoke Blacksburg tech industry. Attendees included professionals of all ages and stages in their careers as the discussed the best ways to approach strengthening our tech-based economy.
Find Your Next Brilliant Hire with RBTC’s Enhanced Job Board
We specialize in creating connections within the innovation ecosystem and talent is no different. That’s why we invested in a specialized job board so it’s easy to find the right person with the right skills. The RBTC job board ensures that all information is up-to-date and accurate so you can find qualified candidates to join your team.
RBTC member companies interested in advertising their open positions can get started by creating an employer profile and begin posting jobs right away. And job seekers can create a profile, upload resumes and begin browsing real, local, and open positions. Visit our job board today to connect with regional tech talent.
