It’s been in the making for the past few years, but make no mistake about it – OnBoard Birmingham is all about the future.
The Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA) has launched its online talent attraction and recruitment tool, which it has branded OnBoard Birmingham, as a way of reaching talent directly, and through those helping them, find new jobs and advance their careers.
“OnBoard Birmingham is really an evolution of a lot of BBA’s talent recruitment and talent attraction efforts since all the way back in 2014 is when the seeds were planted,” said Karla Khodanian, manager of Talent and Higher Education Partnerships at the BBA. “It’s been really exciting to get it to this point now in 2020.”
Khodanian said OnBoard Birmingham is aimed at talent outside of Birmingham and Alabama because, the truth is, when you’re in the Magic City, you already know how great it is.
“We want them to build their lives and grow their careers here in Birmingham,” she said. “Our city is at a really awesome point where we’ve just got nothing but gold ahead of us. So the more talent we have here, the better our city will become.”
OnBoard Birmingham is global workforce’s gateway to the Magic City from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
BBA CEO Kenny Coleman said the competition for talent is rivaling the competition for companies when it comes to economic development and recruitment.
“We’re marching towards a place where the fight for talent amongst companies is going to start going into the living rooms, much like we’ve seen for football recruitment,” Coleman said. “The more talented folks around our community will choose where they want to live first and work second, so we’ve got to be prepared for that.”
OnBoard Birmingham helps them prepare through a variety of tools that include:
- A cost-of-living calculator that shows users how far their dollars go in Birmingham compared to where they currently live or where else they may be considering. For example, your $75,000 salary in New York will go 63% further in Birmingham.
- Neighborhood and community profiles that will help users pick the best place for them to reside.
- Showcase of quality-of-life places from restaurants to entertainment and more.
- A jobs board with keyword search capabilities that is sorted by industry and has more than 28,000 jobs.
Regions Bank and Shipt are the initial sponsors of OnBoard Birmingham and are its first featured employers, with company profiles and an opportunity for enhanced job listings. That feature is open to other companies interested in getting in front of talent with an eye on Birmingham.
Plans for the site include a dynamic recruiting toolkit for talent leaders across the region and profiles of local ambassadors who have built a career in Birmingham. Khodanian said there are plans to work with colleges and universities throughout the state to keep talent upon graduation rather than have them return to their home states or leave Alabama.
In addition to the online tools, OnBoard Birmingham plans to hold virtual events with regional colleges to showcase quality-of-life opportunities and host career fairs with TechBirmingham and Innovate Birmingham to showcase the tech ecosystem that appeals to young talent.
Coleman said getting people to experience the magic of the Magic City is often all it takes.
“What we have found over the years is that once we can get people to experience Alabama – and many times that has been physically but now we are working on trying to get virtual experiences for them – but once we get them to experience it, they love it, they appreciate it, it surprises them in many ways,” he said. “And I think at the core of our economic development and talent attraction strategy is to get more people to experience our community.”
Learn more about OnBoard Birmingham from its website or on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.
(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)
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