Commerce begins project to make North Dakota a national leader in talent attraction innovation and action

The North Dakota Department of Commerce recently completed a tour across North Dakota with representatives from RoleCall, a talent consultation company, to kick off a statewide talent attraction project.
 
Commerce partnered with RoleCall to address the state’s workforce needs by assisting in making North Dakota a national leader in talent attraction innovation and action. The partnership and project strategy are an anomaly among the many other ways states have approached talent attraction.
 
“As of October 2021, North Dakota’s unemployment rate is 2.3% with over 30,000 open jobs,” Commerce Workforce Director Katie Ralston said. “We know that even after everyone who is currently unemployed starts working again, we will still have thousands of jobs available. Using RoleCall to build infrastructure behind the scenes to make sure that prospective talent has a ‘Path to Yes’ is vital to helping North Dakota grow and prosper.”
 
This month’s tour was one of the initial steps to begin the project which is a confluence of a bold vision at the state level, strong regional leadership, national marketing, passionate community ambassadors, engaged employers, and personalized paths on relocation to North Dakota.
The tour began on Nov. 15 and consisted of visiting state-of-the-art community centers and factories, brainstorming with local leaders, eating local cuisine, learning about cutting-edge drone technology, exploring rural main streets, and presenting to the Governor's Workforce Development Council.
 
“There were meaningful discussions about what North Dakota communities of various sizes and in different geographies have to offer,” Ralston said. “With an emphasis on intentionality, innovation in community leadership, and talent attraction. It takes humility to say ‘we need you here’ and to welcome new residents, and that's exactly what North Dakota is doing.”
 
Commerce and RoleCall are in the initial stages of building the framework for talent attraction infrastructure with a goal to have a new talent pipeline by end of spring/beginning of summer 2022.