Courtesy / Live+Work in Maine, Maine Career Connect
Nate Wildes, executive director of Live+Work in Maine, and Ula Polsky, director of Maine Career Connect's new Portland office.
April 25, 2019
Double-teaming to find the employees Maine companies need
Courtesy / Nate Wildes, LinkedIn
Nate Wildes is founder of Flight Deck Brewing at Brunswick Landing and executive director of Live+Work in Maine, a private-sector initiative to promote Maine's employment brand. Wildes says a new partnership between Live+Work and Maine Career Connect seeks to expand both organizations' impact in helping Maine employers find the workers they need.
By James McCarthy
There’s no ambiguity in the sales pitch that Live+Work in Maine makes to people working in other states who might be thinking about finding a job in Maine. It’s front and center on its website, which features jobs ranging from Dead River Co.’s need for someone to manage its mergers and acquisitions/corporate development operations to Tyler Technologies' opening for a “cybersecurity penetration tester.”
“There's a reason the world turns to Maine to unwind,” the pitch states. “It's easy to relax somewhere that keeps time at a saner pace. A place where you can trade deadlines for tidelines, or take the time to follow a trail instead of a routine. A place with a vibe that makes both work and play thrive. They say you can't have it all. We dare you to disagree. Come live and work in Maine.”
Nate Wildes, executive director of the private-sector initiative promoting the Maine employment brand to the national talent market, says the overarching goal is to help Maine employers find the skilled workers they need and, all too often, are struggling to find. Maine’s workforce problem, he says, cuts across all sectors and stems from the state’s two-fold demographic challenges.
“Maine needs more people to stay here, Maine needs more people to move here,” he says, citing Maine’s flat population growth and status as the oldest state in the union.
Wildes, who joined Live + Work in Maine in 2016 as engagement director after having served as an independent marketing and business development consultant for several years, stepped up to become the organization’s executive director earlier this year. He also founded Flight Deck Brewing, a craft brewery at Brunswick Landing (the former Brunswick Naval Air Station) in 2017.
Partnering with Maine Career Connect
In an effort to expand Live+Work’s outreach, Wildes has launched a new partnership with Maine Career Connect, a nonprofit program of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce that supports employers’ efforts to grow and diversify Maine’s workforce.
“There is great synergy between what Live+Work in Maine has been doing for the last three years and the services Maine Career Connect provides,” he says. "By working directly for employers, Maine Career Connect is uniquely positioned to complement internal recruitment teams and can provide more personalized services to help new employees and their accompanying partners (and families) get to know potential communities and prepare to relocate to our beautiful state."
Ula Polsky, director of Maine Career Connect’s Portland office that opened in January, agrees.
In simple terms, she says, the partnership is an effort to break down silos that might limit each organization’s effectiveness in helping Maine employers find the workers they need.
“We’re looking at the problem from a different perspective than Live+Work in Maine,” she says. “We’re focused on client services, such as pre-hire consultation, community transition assistance and dual career guidance directly to candidates and new hires relocating to Maine for work. They’re working on macro issues, such as the quality of life that’s available here in Maine. It’s a highly collaborative effort. These issues are far too big for either of us to solve alone.”
Polsky says that Maine Career Connect has had great success in its home base of the greater Bangor region, but recognized its experience and services could bolster the recruitment and retention efforts of employers in Portland’s hot job market — employers like WEX, IDEXX, Covetrus, Tilson and Tyler Technologies, which are all growing and scrambling to find skilled workers for their high-paying jobs.
“Our goal is to take the stress out of relocating to Maine, so new employees can focus on enjoying the wonderful lifestyle that has brought or kept so many of us here,” she says. “We look forward to this new partnership with Live+Work in Maine and the opportunities it will present for job seekers and employers alike.”
Wildes says talent acquisition is not a linear process, which is why he sees the collaboration with Maine Career Connect as an important development. Where his organization might persuade a would-be applicant from outside the state that Maine’s quality of life is exceptional — as well as the fact that there are many career opportunities available — Maine Career Connect can help close that “sale” by its employer-based services of pre-hire consultations and community tours, community transition support and dual career/professional development support.
“If we can fill more jobs by working together that’s a win for everyone,” he says.
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