Mayor Shammas Malik’s willingness to get on the phone has made Akron one of three cities highlighted by a nonprofit that seeks to help local governments fill jobs.
Caitlin Lewis, the executive director of Work for America, said she had reached out to Akron when the year-old organization launched to see if someone would be willing to answer questions for a research report about government hiring.
Malik, she said, was the only mayor who contributed to the report. They talked about filling public safety roles, using data in government hiring and how civil service rules can slow down the process and cause candidates to choose other job options.
Now, that connection has led Akron to be one of Work for America’s spotlight cities as the group tries to help match federal workers who took a deferred buyout option with jobs across the country.
Lewis said the platform, called Civic Match, has more than 100 candidates who are already in Ohio and more than 2,000 who have expressed interest in moving to the state. More than 11,000 workers have profiles on the platform. Lewis said about 30 candidates who have signed up are currently located in Northeast Ohio and another 90 said their hometown is in the region.
The other two cities Work for America will focus on are Kansas City, Missouri, and Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Already, the Work for America team was in Akron last week to help the city government come up with an employee value proposition, Lewis said. That includes telling potential employees about the pay and benefits they would get from a job, but also about Akron’s relatively low cost of living and the intangible benefits of working in public service.
That work will help Akron sell itself to potential employees, Lewis said.
“We were huge fans of the city,” she said. “We have the sense that Akron is up and coming and has momentum.”
What jobs are available?
While Work for America launched in response to the retirement of Baby Boomers and the decrease in young people choosing jobs in local government, which leaves positions unfilled, Lewis said the huge cuts at the federal level provide an opportunity for people who already have public sector experience to help fill those needed roles in local government.
Because of the influx of federal money coming to Akron as part of the Polymer Industry Cluster, Lewis said she expected there could be several opportunities for former federal workers to step into jobs that could make use of their previous experience.
Candidates who are currently in the region or who are from the region have expertise in research, data analytics, communications and program and project management, among other specialties. They’re looking for jobs as IT specialists, health scientists, policy advisers, disaster management coordinators and affordable housing specialists, among other roles.
Currently, only one job is posted on Civic Match in the state of Ohio, for a finance director at the Cuyahoga County Board of Health. Lewis said Work for America has 22 Ohio cities that use the platform and the number of jobs changes daily.
So far, Akron has used the platform to recruit for 10 roles, Lewis said. They include recruitment and retention specialists, an audit and budget supervisor, a senior litigator, data and transparency strategists and legislative coordinators. But only one Ohioan has been hired for a job through Work for America; that person was in Cincinnati.
The City of Akron currently has 14 jobs listed on its own hiring page, including a deputy clerk of courts, a mediation specialist and several seasonal or work-study jobs for students. No one from the city who is familiar with the partnership was available Monday to comment on what jobs the city planned to hire for.
Since launch, Lewis said more than 100 employees have been placed in jobs in 26 states. Because the average time to hire a government worker is 130 days, she expects to see that number rise in the coming weeks.
“Our laser focus is helping local governments recruit and retain talent,” Lewis said. “The current situation in the federal government means more responsibilities than ever are falling to cities and states.”
She hopes that means opportunities to fill unfilled roles at the local government level.
Are workers willing to relocate to Akron?
Additionally, Lewis said she hopes that Akron and the other two spotlight cities can be places to experiment about the best ways to attract and keep people in government jobs. Could there be four-day work weeks? Could they improve their on-boarding process? Could there be more flexible office policies?
Malik will be on an advisory board to help Work for America figure out options and, Lewis hopes, try some of them out.
For now, the city will have a recruitment video and photos it can use to help convince workers to call Akron home. That’s part of what the team is doing to help create a clear and compelling explanation for why Akron and why now, Lewis said.
Through Civic Match, she knows there are thousands of workers who are willing to relocate. If they got more exposure to Akron, she said, they would “absolutely be willing to move.”
“Akron is on the rise,” Lewis said.
