Huron County Immigration Liaison Kristin Crane (photo by Bob Montgomery)Huron County Immigration Liaison Kristin Crane (photo by Bob Montgomery)
Midwestern

Huron County Has Workforce Attraction And Retention Strategy

Economic Development Officer Chris Watson and Huron Immigration Liaison Kristin Crane have presented their Workforce Attraction and Retention Strategy to Huron County council.

Crane says they've broken the strategy down to five specific areas -- preparing the community, attracting the people, hiring people, settling people, and retaining people.

She says preparing the community involves informing the community of the problems employers are having in finding people to fill the jobs they have, the depth of the problem, and the consequences of not finding people for those jobs.

Crane says one of the biggest challenges in attracting people is telling them where we are and what Huron County has to offer. She says many people in urban centres as close as London know very little about Huron County.

Crane says hiring is critical because the number of available jobs is something Huron County hasn't seen before and instead of employers looking for five new people; some are looking for an many as 50.

Crane says settling people is one of the biggest challenges because we can't invite people to come to Huron County if we can't provide them with housing. She adds building a housing supply doesn't happen overnight but they are working on it.

And retaining people is a matter of having the social supports in place so that newcomers or people who are returning to the community feel welcome and feel part of the community.

"In a lot of the urban centres, even if it's London which isn't that far away, people don't know about Huron County, they don't know about the jobs that are available here, the great quality of life, the affordability of our lifestyle and the great employers and communities that exist here," says Crane. "Building a housing supply isn't something that can be achieved overnight but we're starting the process now and it's an ongoing process."

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