Attracting Talent to WV

Jeff James

One of the challenges we face here in West Virginia is adding talent to our workforces.  The main source of this problem is that many of our youth leave WV for work or opportunities elsewhere.  I personally had made up my mind to leave the state as soon as I was old enough, although I think I always knew I wanted to come back one day.

Which I did.  After my wife became pregnant with our second child.  And after looking all over the country at places to live.  We really liked Denver and Raleigh, but ended up giving Wheeling the nod.  Now I was fortunate – we already knew about Wheeling and the rest of West Virginia.  I had grown up here and my wife had seen it almost a dozen times before we decided to call it home.  Others aren’t personally familiar with the state.

I was talking with the father of a childhood friend last week who has done economic development and recruiting for decades.  He says it’s always the same story with folks who have no ties to the area.  If he could actually get them to West Virginia, they almost always ended up taking the job and moving.  But, it was really hard for him to get many people over the stereotype to actually consider it. 

Maybe that’s why so many mouths fell agape when I told people my firm had just brought in a world-class, award-winning blogger (although not everyone knew what “blogger” meant) from Cleveland via England who sought my company out. 

Paul Woodhouse (the formerly nameless blogger) came because of the chance to work for us.  We brought his wife and him down for a weekend to make sure they knew what they were getting themselves into.  Funny thing – they loved it for all the reasons we do. 

Just like everywhere else West Virginia has problems that offer opportunities. If we can create positions and make our communities attractive to talent like Paul, we can start retaining our youth, enticing prodigal sons and daughters to return, and bring in new lifeblood.  We just have to start and stick with it.

I’m excited to be involved with the Create West Virginia movement for these reasons.  We can turn our fortunes around without losing what makes the Mountain State so special.  I hope we will.

– Justin Seibert, President, Direct Online Marketing™

3 responses to “Attracting Talent to WV”

  1. Paul Woodhouse Avatar
    Paul Woodhouse

    You’re too kind. I must admit that Stephanie and myself are both enjoying Wheeling and West Virginia far more than we thought we would. How can I ever get tired of the delightful view across the Ohio River and the rolling hills beyond? And, while the place may have a few parts that have obviously seen better days (but show me a place that hasn’t), there’s character and charm everywhere. One of the things you miss when you move from the UK is a bit of history and a bit of scenery. I’m now not missing that in the slightest. But do you know what the real clincher has been so far? West Virginians themselves. Everybody is so friendly, down-to-earth and lacking any pretensions whatsoever. Oh, and I suppose Justin isn’t too bad of a boss either. 😉 Nobody understands the downsides of their own particular parish than the parishioners themselves, and it seems to me that those West Virginians I’ve spoken to deal with them with a great deal of good grace and humor as opposed to hostility and bitterness. As far as I’m concerned, my own personal West Virginia slogan might go along the lines of: West Virginia – the sort of place you’d take home to your mother.

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  2. Peggy McKowen Avatar
    Peggy McKowen

    Hello, We just discovered this new initiative for West Virginia and we’re delighted to see it happening. If we can be a part of this in any way please let us know. We bring thousands of people to the Eastern Panhandle to see new Contemporary Theater and we’re very proud of the community support we have and how responsive WV has been to our festival. As a native West Virginian I’m proud to be able to return to my home and to continue my professional career in the arts. Let’s keep these opportunities coming!

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  3. Justin Seibert Avatar
    Justin Seibert

    Peggy, Thank you for visiting, reading, and the kind words. There are a lot of exciting things going on with this movement right now – from local meetings going on across the state to a state-wide conference in the fall. The best way to get involved would probably be to sign up on the home page of this site (http://www.createwv.com). You’ll be put on the email list for any notifications and – I think – will have the opportunity to read our initiative and submit feedback. I’m very glad to hear about what you’re doing with your new theater. How can we learn more about it? Do you have a Web site? One thing I’d definitely recommend would be to add it to the Create WV Community Map (http://createwv.com/create_frame.php?title=map&target=map). Thanks again for the feedback. We’re glad you’re one of the growing number of people who decided to move back. It made sense for my family to get out of Los Angeles to return home; another woman in our group recently returned to Charleston from North Carolina; and other anecdotal evidence continues to mount!

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