It can be tough finding a job these days. It can also be tough to find the right employee if you’re looking to hire. Louisiana is now trying to streamline the distance between qualified employees and the businesses looking to hire them thanks to the launch of a new statewide program. Susan Schowen, Secretary of Louisiana Works says that an influx of a diverse array of businesses has created the need for something like this to be implemented. "What we're really seeing right now is a serious need to build a skilled craft workforce. That crosses multiple industries: construction, manufacturing, and more with the type of growth coming to the state," Showen points out.
One main impediment to finding the right partnership between employer and employee is the glut of services that promise to do just that thing. Schowen sees a central, statewide hub as a way to cut through the noise. “We have partnered with our friends in Economic Development to make things more streamlined for businesses that are looking for workforce solutions,” Schowen explains. “A lot of this is coordination that has happened on an ad hoc basis. So, what we’re trying to do is make this more formal, streamlined, and reliable,” she went on to say.Another point of emphasis in regards to the laworks.net and louisianaworksforme.org websites is making sure that businesses and the people they employee are locals.
“Governor Jeff Landry is doing an amazing job as our Recruiter In Chief (so to speak) recruiting businesses to Louisiana. We need to make sure that those businesses find the workers they need, and we need to make sure those workers remain local. A lot of the workers in the community that are working for existing businesses are going to flock to the new businesses opening in their area. Those existing businesses will really need our help to make sure they stay whole,” she explained. The hope is that this resource will allow businesses both new and old to remain viable with a healthy influx of local talent.