Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce Announces Greater ROC Global Program Attracting International Talent to Finger Lakes Region
A thriving, talented workforce is critical to powering the Greater Rochester region’s economic growth for the next century. However, like many places across the country, Rochester is facing a persistent gap in available talent for many critical jobs across the region.
To address the talent gap, Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce–in partnership with inSpring, a national workforce development organization and Talent Mobility Fund grantee–is proud to launch Greater ROC Global. This innovative partnership is a global talent development and retention program designed to supply healthcare and advanced manufacturing employers across the Greater Rochester region with the programming, recruiting, compliance, and retention services needed to fill talent gaps in critical sectors. This initiative builds upon Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce’s existing talent initiatives to recruit, retain, and connect talent as the regional lead for talent strategy as part of the OneROC alliance.
Greater ROC Global will begin by launching a healthcare center of excellence, aimed at addressing a significant shortage of skilled clinical talent across the region’s healthcare systems. The education-to-practice pipeline program will source candidates from across the world, connect them with educational opportunities to complete their Bachelors degree in Nursing and become certified, and transition the candidates into the regional workforce, including support for employment authorization and successful integration into the Greater Rochester community. The first cohort of Greater ROC Global program participant nurses will arrive in our region on Monday, April 21st.
As Greater ROC Global expands, it will focus on developing programs to support the attraction, upskilling, and retention of STEM talent in the Rochester region’s advanced manufacturing industry. These programs will leverage inSpring’s custom-built network of educational partners to identify underutilized, top-tier technical talent and provide them with rigorous onboarding and job readiness training to prepare them for Rochester-based jobs. Greater ROC Global is part of inSpring’s regional hub network, which are designed to be a novel, permanent fixture in regions across the U.S.
“For years, Greater Rochester Chamber has consistently heard from our members and regional employers that access to high-quality talent has been a limiting factor in their organizational growth. We are excited to launch our Greater ROC Global program to bring new talent into our region, showcasing the vibrant community we live and work in and helping to fill these crucial talent gaps for employers,” said Bob Duffy, President & CEO, Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce, “We are excited to partner with our health systems in this first phase to enable them to better serve our community and access the individuals they need to for their vital work building a strong and healthy workforce. Thank you to inSpring for their partnership in this space.”
“Rochester has such a rich history as a magnet for innovation in industry and education leading the way in many of America’s key sectors – and requires a robust and adaptive workforce to thrive,” said Chris Hoehn-Saric, CEO and Co-Founder of inSpring. “We’re delighted to contribute to the future growth and success of the region by embedding our Regional Talent Hub model into the community in partnership with Greater Rochester Chamber. The community here has been so welcoming and collaborative, and we are excited to play a role in building a healthy and vibrant future workforce in Rochester for years to come.”
To learn more about the Greater ROC Global program and how employers can get involved, please visit GreaterRochesterChamber.com/Greater-ROC-Global. For questions, please contact Barb.Egenhofer@GreaterRochesterChamber.com.