Finding the right talent in any industry is tough. Trying to stand apart from the crowd and be an industry leader in attracting top talent can be even more difficult.

The right talent for your company can help you grow and will be your advocate as you look to hire additional employees. Identifying and hiring the right employees will not only save you in the long run (the hiring process is quite expensive), but it will set you up for success in the future. 

Here are four ways to distinguish your company and find the best people for the job.

1. Focus on your company’s brand as an employer of choice

Workplace awards and recognition programs are a great way to gain visibility and attract good job candidates. They also instill pride in your current employees and give them an opportunity to get involved in promoting the organization.  Internship programs are another way to showcase your company and get the younger generations familiar with your brand.  Several local award programs are available for you to explore, in addition to some NEOSA-specific programming. 

Local awards programs:

• Northcoast99 
• Weatherhead 100 
• Northeast Ohio Top Workplaces

NEOSA- related awards and events:

• Cool-Tech Challenge
• Virtual Job Fairs
• Tech Week Job Fairs
• Internship programs

In addition to these awards programs, make sure that your company’s social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) emanate a positive culture and showcase good qualities of your workplace. Social media also is great for sharing photos from community and company events, introducing your employees and job postings.

2. Treat hiring as a key business practice

There is no doubt that firms who take the hiring process seriously reap the benefits. Smart firms invest their time, talent and profit in creating and maintaining a top-notch talent acquisition process. Employee-referral programs are an excellent way to find people who can fit the model of what you’re looking for in the role. Also, make sure you assess candidates for their soft skills just as much as technical skills. Technical skills can be learned over time, but soft skills (i.e. communication, critical thinking, etc.) are much more difficult to develop.

3. Create a total rewards strategy

Employees look for more than a paycheck, and it’s important that you consider cost-effective ways to differentiate your business. Examples that can set you apart from the other companies include:

• Increased paid time off
• Flexible work arrangements
• Referral bonuses
• On-site wellness programs/off-site wellness options
• Employee appreciation events

There are several more options, but this is a good start. And keep in mind, every organization is unique, so fit things into your model that work for you.

4. Conduct a compensation study for market data

Your salaries, even for newly created positions, must be at market while also ensuring internal equity for existing employees. This is typically missed and can leave potential candidates and existing employees talking about the organization negatively.  Happy employees are ones that are paid at or above market value as well as feeling creative and autonomous.

Reference: http://www.trinet.com/documents/eGuides/TriNet_eGuide_Hiring_the_Best.pdf

2013 has been an exciting year for tech, here in the CLE, but also nationally and of course globally. Mobile technology adoption and deployment continues to grow, cloud services adoption is extending from large clients down into small companies, talent attraction is becoming even more strategically critical. 

But what’s coming in the near-term, medium-term and longer term? What business and technology trends are converging and what opportunities will be created? 

Sharing insights: Dan Dugan, Cisco; Jane Alexander, Cleveland Museum of Art; and Gabriel Torok, PreEmptive Solutions.

Listen here.

2013 has been an exciting year for tech, here in the CLE, but also nationally and of course globally. Mobile technology adoption and deployment continues to grow, cloud services adoption is extending from large clients down into small companies, talent attraction is becoming even more strategically critical. 

But what’s coming in the near-term, medium-term and longer term? What business and technology trends are converging and what opportunities will be created? 

Presenters:  Dan Dugan, Cisco; Jane Alexander, Cleveland Museum of Art; and Gabriel Torok, PreEmptive Solutions.

Listen here.

In recognition of the second annual national Energy Efficiency Day (EE Day) on Oct. 5, COSE is joining regional and national organizations, businesses, utilities, and individuals working to promote energy efficiency—the cheapest, quickest way to meet our energy needs, cut consumer bills and reduce pollution.

Energy efficiency is also an economic engine, supporting 2.2 million jobs nationwide in manufacturing, construction and other fields – most of which can’t be outsourced overseas.This year, EE Day offers a national light bulb challenge to encourage engagement by residents and businesses alike.

“Energy-related expenditures represent one of the biggest costs businesses face,” said Nicole Stika, vice president of Energy Services for the Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP). “Companies are leaving a lot of money on the table by not auditing their facilities and looking at where energy is being wasted.”

• RELATED: Learn how an energy audit can help your company save.

Smarter energy use means we don’t have to generate as much power to meet our needs. Many people don’t realize that the GCP has already begun taking that advice to heart, and is in the process of auditing its newly owned building in the heart of Cleveland’s Playhouse Square District.

• RELATED: Follow along as the GCP audits its own building.

An energy-efficient economy is free to thrive and innovate. Electricity use was 5% lower in 2016 than in 2010, while the U.S. economy grew by almost 13% during those years, demonstrating that efficiency and economic growth go hand-in-hand. Reducing the energy used by manufacturers, homes and businesses benefits everyone—especially energy bill-payers.The average household, for example, saves almost $500 every year from efficiency standards for common appliances such as dishwashers, refrigerators and water heaters.

“For many businesses, a 20% cut in energy costs represents the same bottom line benefit as a 5% increase in sales,” Stika said.

• RELATED: Multiple financing options are available to help cover the costs of your energy project.

Learn more about GCP’s energy efficiency efforts, or join the conversation on Twitter at #EEDay2017.

The Greater Cleveland Partnership, Commission on Economic Inclusion and OHTec are proud to be sponsors and community partners to a great event on 6/28/2016 at the Music Box Supper Club in the Flats.

What is TechUP Cleveland? TechUP has one goal: to create a tech ecosystem that is representative of all people. TechUP believe’s that a diverse and inclusive tech sector is stronger, smarter, and better. TechUP leverages their networks across all underrepresented groups to bring diverse talent into the tech ecosystem and connect candidates to opportunities to build impactful careers.

TechUP intentionally recruits women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, veterans and people who live with a disability. They seek front-end, back-end, full-stack and mobile developers, engineering managers, UI/UX designers, hardware/embedded, data analysts and scientists, data security, IT, dev ops, QA engineers, project and product managers, marketers, technical support and sales, and more.

As a leader in helping to be the voice of IT in Northeast Ohio, OHTec couldn’t be happier to partner with TechUP and all of the other partners and sponsors for such a great event!

For information on how to get more involved, click here. If you are already a part of this event, we look forward to seeing you there!

Editor’s note: This is the first in a multi-part series that shows what goes into an energy audit by chronicling its own energy audit.

Our team’s job is to encourage you to improve the energy efficiency of your building. Well, guess what? We just put our money where our mouth is! What do I mean by that? We recently conducted an energy audit of our own building that we now proudly own.

And now that we are recently minted property owners, our facilities and finance teams are laser-focused on saving energy in own building. That’s important because the money we don’t spend on energy costs represents that much more of an investment we can make in our members and broader business community.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is we’re a lot like you. When it comes to a commitment to energy efficiency, our first step in the decision process is to bring key stakeholders to the table. We involve them in the planning process from the very beginning because this facilitates stakeholder buy-in and decreases the likelihood of major pushback or changes down the road.

It might look a little different at your company, but here are our stakeholders:

• Our finance team is tasked with running a well-designed building as efficiently and comfortably as possible for ourselves and our tenants, while managing operating expenses and efficiently managing expenses.
•  Our marketing team wants to highlight our innovation and efficiency.
• Our in-house energy team seeks to identify, prioritize and maximize resources where possible for members.
• Our senior staff wants to ensure our investments are justified for a nonprofit organization.

Looking inward

During the past 7-plus years, we have conducted “health checks” on more than 1,000 buildings and identified opportunities for energy efficiency and operational savings. And then the time came we did the same for our own building and so we began to develop a long-term plan.

As such, our energy team recently spent a day assessing the building from top to bottom, interior and exterior, inside and out, including a thorough review of mechanical drawings and feasibility studies that have been performed over the years. Our next steps will be to build the energy model from our software program to help us estimate cost and savings projections, payback and return on investment from identified opportunities. Our energy team will then align those recommendations with available incentives and rebates to provide a plan of action for the facilities and finance team at GCP.

In addition to these future investments, we know it is imperative to create cultural change. Giving employees the information they need to become better energy stewards has a profound impact on our ability to save energy and money. We know behavioral change is not only effective but also creates a culture that facilitates the adoption of technical measures. So, the two must complement each other to be the most effective.

For now, we crunch numbers and lay out a plan. Stay tuned for the action steps we develop during our audit.

Learn more about the energy audit process by contacting GCP’s energy team at 216-592-2205 or energy@gcpartnership.com. And explore more of what the team does by clicking here.