MANSFIELD — The State of Ohio celebrates “In-Demand Jobs Week” each May.
The Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development has been participating in In-Demand Jobs Week for at least a decade, but highlighting local job opportunities has now become a year-round focus.
“It’s not just the first week of May anymore,” said Clint Knight, director of workforce development for the Richland Area Chamber. “It’s an ongoing effort between us, employers, nonprofits — we’re all in the same boat rowing in the same direction.”
The Chamber began the “Richland Works” objective last year to increase awareness of in-demand career pathways and opportunities. It aims to promote the area to students and job-seekers as a desirable place to live and work.
“Richland Works” includes 35 videos, multiple photo galleries and a podcast that showcase a variety of local employers.
Sandy Messner, Richland Area Chamber director of marketing and communications, managed the project and has submitted it as part of an application for the Chamber of Commerce Executives of Ohio’s Chamber of the Year award.
The videos were free to Chamber members who said they were interested after Messner’s initial email. The job fields represented include advanced manufacturing, finance, fluid movement, healthcare and social services, information technology and media, logistics and more.
Richland Works received financial support from Job and Family Services, Ohio Means Jobs and Google for Nonprofits.
The bottom of the Richland Works page allows job-seekers to contact the Chamber directly for help contacting different businesses. Knight said it’s difficult to measure the effect Richland Works has had on businesses because students and job-seekers come across the materials on a variety of platforms.
“We had an interest in really telling the story of our employers to several audiences,” he said. “One of the things that you hear a lot is, ‘I don’t want to do that type of work.’ But a lot of fields, for example manufacturing, have changed drastically in the last 20 years.
“So we wanted to create an accessible resource for anybody to see that work and increase exposure without having to take them into the factory floor or the hospital, retail or insurance offices,” he said.
All 35 videos were filmed and produced by DRM Productions. CEO Jay Miller said he and his team enjoyed visiting different businesses in the area.
“DRM is a proud community partner and our mission with this type of stuff is to help the community and help these businesses scream louder,” Miller said. “It was amazing to go into so many different employers and see people doing so many different things.”
Miller said he hopes the videos and photos help employers make new hires, but also grow brand recognition among students.
“This isn’t an immediate fix, but there’s a lot of positive and unique things that are happening in our area that a lot of people don’t know about,” he said. “It’s all about planting seeds that might bring in applications even five years down the line.”
Companies are free to use all Richland Works videos and photos for their own promotions.
The first Richland Works video filmed was for Lloyd Rebar in Shelby.
Morgan Brooke, Lloyd Rebar employee engagement specialist, said the company posted the video on their Facebook and LinkedIn pages and will update their billboards and office decorations with the photos.
“Sometimes we’ll show the video to new hires so they can get an idea of what it’s like to work here,” Brooke said. “DRM did an awesome job. They represented us accurately and really focused on the best aspects of working for us.”
Messner said a new video is boosted on the Chamber’s Facebook page every two weeks. The digital campaign has received nearly 200,000 views and more than 15,000 website visitors since the project was posted online in June 2022.
Each featured company’s contact information is linked on their Richland Works web pages. Messner said the campaign aims to solve Richland County’s talent scarcity through advertising internship and career opportunities.
“We really focused on the stories of the people working at the companies,” she said. “What I really loved about this project was the fun factor. We didn’t encounter anyone who said ‘I hate being here.’”
Additional information about the Richland Works project can be found on the Chamber’s Facebook page, the Workforce Pulse podcast or online.
