With businesses and communities re-opening for a second time, the business recruitment team jumped back into action during this past month to participate in the Site Selectors Guild and the North Carolina Economic Development Association (NCEDA) conferences, connecting with site selectors from across the country to pitch the Charlotte Region as an optimal location for business to establish a presence. Meeting with these consultants is critical as they provide insight to the decision-making processes of their clients – companies that are seeking to relocate or expand their operations.
Gretchen Carson, director of business recruitment, kicked off March in sunny San Diego, joining up with nearly 50 site selectors over the course of three days for the organization’s annual conference. Key takeaways included the need for communities to focus on workforce and talent. Businesses are chasing talent; communities should be focused on training and developing their people as well as implementing programs which demonstrate their investment in building a strong workforce. Consultants also shared the importance of local data that can be sourced only from the community – case studies and employer interviews are perfect examples of what can be of value during a site visit.
Following the Site Selectors Guild, both Carson and Danny Chavez, chief business recruitment officer, attended the 2022 North Carolina Site Selectors Summit, organized by NCEDA. With more than twenty consultants in attendance, economic development practitioners from across the state were offered an exclusive opportunity to learn more about what the consultants want to see from communities vying to win projects. According to a site selector, one aspect often overlooked by economic developers is understanding their audience – who they are pitching to and who is the decision maker on a project. A CEO will have a different perspective than a CFO and will want different information. Other comments included the need to be flexible with incentives and considerations on how to adjust incentives as the hybrid work landscape unfolds.
These conferences are the first of many opportunities the recruitment team is ramping up to ensure the talent and assets of the Charlotte Region stay in the forefront with site selectors. During the next several months, the team will be present at the NextGen Talks Food and Beverage conference, Consultant Connect Summit, NextGen Talks Women in ED and on a joint mission with the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina to New York.
