Monster Government Solutions

By: Mark McMurray, Director of Business Development at Monster Government Solutions

Although the economy has showed signs of improvement, hiring remains down and the unemployment rate in many regions remains high. While it seems counterintuitive, there are many reasons why companies would be hesitant to hold off on hiring despite increasing revenues.

With many companies nervous of a repeat of the economy’s downward spiral and subsequent credit crunch, they are holding onto every dollar they can. Additionally, many companies are hesitant to consider the economic downturn behind them and begin operating and hiring as such.

And who can blame them, really? Hiring people is expensive.

But Ohio is betting on their people. In an effort to help put their large unemployed population back into jobs and back on the private sector payroll the state has implemented a new program to take the risk out of the new hiring process for local companies.

The program, called Project Hometown Investment in Regional Economies (HIRE) is a statewide Workforce Investment Act initiative funded by the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Administered by the Ohio Department of Development in collaboration with the One-Stop Workforce system and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), Project HIRE provides enhanced job matching strategies linking employers and job seekers at no cost to either.

Through Project HIRE, the State of Ohio is making federal funds available for up to six months to help offset up to 50% of the cost of on-the-job training for fulltime jobs in a handful of targeted, high-demand industries. These industries include, but are not limited to:

• Advanced Energy and Environmental Technologies
• Aerospace and Aviation
• Bioscience and Bioproducts
• Instruments, Controls and Electronics
• Polymers and Advanced Materials
• Healthcare

Project HIRE benefits both companies and prospective employees immensely. For employers, a high-performance workforce is created that is trained in the necessary skills and abilities on-the-job at a significantly reduced cost. This takes the gamble out of hiring new employees by reducing a company’s investment in each new hire while ensuring that they have what it takes to be successful in their jobs. For employees it provides valuable on-the-job training in a handful of high-demand, growth industries.

The State of Ohio is taking huge steps towards getting people back into jobs and creating a high-performance workforce. Between the Ohio Means Jobs portal that we discussed previously on Unleash the Monster and Project HIRE, Ohio means business when it comes to getting its citizens back to work.

What could your state learn from Ohio?

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