In terms of corporate
recruitment, one of the Dallas–Fort Worth area’s greatest strengths is its skilled,
high-tech workforce. Multiple companies have relocated to North Texas recently to draw from our pool of qualified young
talent. According to a recent article in the Dallas Business Journal, North Texas has more than 211,000 people working in STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) occupations.

However, upon speaking
with many of our local Richardson employers, this supply isn’t great enough to meet the demands of our
existing, expanding and relocating companies. Our conversations with company leaders and
human resources professionals reveal that talent attraction is more competitive
than ever in Richardson. There are more technical positions open than
there are qualified candidates to fill them.

REDP is tackling this
workforce shortage issue with a talent attraction campaign this year. We are
coordinating an initiative to attract young STEM workers fresh out of college
to live and work in Richardson. Our hope is that these young professionals
will:

a)     
Fulfill our
corporate employers’ demand for a high-tech workforce

b)     
Occupy the
abundant, upscale multi-family housing currently being built in Richardson

c)     
Actualize the
City’s vision of Richardson as a live, work and play environment

This initiative will have
two components: a comprehensive labor study and a marketing attraction campaign.
As part of the labor study, we are asking our local human resources
professionals to complete a brief survey describing their hiring needs. We will
use this data in addition to a labor study to determine how our workforce
matches up with employers’ demand.

The next step will be to
design and execute a marketing campaign targeted at young high-tech workers.
The campaign will showcase Richardson as an attractive location for young professionals to not only work,
but also live and spend time. Richardson is becoming more and more desirable to young
families due to the emergence of transit-oriented mixed-use developments in Richardson such as CityLine, and unique dining and
entertainment venues such as Alamo Drafthouse, Four Bullets Brewery and our
up-and-coming Richardson Food Truck Park.

The timeline for the
initiative is to launch the campaign by the end of July. The campaign will be
most successful with the support of our corporate employers and housing
communities. If you have any questions about the initiative or wish to
participate in the workforce survey, please contact Jenny Mizutowicz.