MONEY

'We Build Tech' to link employers, job seekers

Jamie McGee
USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee
The Nashville Technology held six Code Camps for Middle Tennessee students this summer.

The Nashville Technology Council is developing a new platform connecting employers with prospective job candidates as part of its effort to meet local workforce needs.

“We Build Tech,” built with an $850,000 Labor Education Alignment Program state grant, will allow business leaders to post promotional videos about jobs at their companies and will include the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce’s jobs board, WorkIT Nashville.

"Businesses can promote the great jobs they offer up in technology,"  said Bryan Huddleston, CEO of the tech council. "The idea is that we can do it at a community-wide level."

The chamber’s WorkIT campaign, launched in 2013 with $400,000 in funding, has similar components as We Build Tech. It was created to draw advanced tech workers from outside Nashville to the area and included promotional videos and materials highlighting the city's companies and quality of life.

More than 344,000 jobs searches and 43,000 candidate searches have been conducted on the WorkIT site, and nearly 300 Nashville area companies have created profiles as of February.The chamber did not have examples of hires made as a result of the initiative.

Katherine McElroy, a tech council board member and executive vice president of C3 Consulting, said We Build Tech provides a more thorough video explanation of positions and how someone can obtain the necessary skills and certifications. While students are often familiar with what a software programmer does, the roles of IT positions and business analysts are less clear.

"It's a much deeper experience for the applicant to understand what the job is," McElroy said. "It's an education about the career and the positions."

More than 70 videos have been made by area companies, Huddleston said.

In Middle Tennessee, there were more than 1,300 unfilled tech positions as of 2014, up from 872 in 2013. The area has added 2,200 technology employees in the same time period.

To help build tech skills, about 30 area businesses have committed to offer 300 tech-related internships that will be posted on the We Build Tech platform beginning this fall. The tech council hopes to add testing components that allow employers to see if job candidates match desired skills and to inform them how to pursue training in that area.

Another part of the LEAP grant includes the council's coding camps that launched this summer. In Davidson and Rutherford counties, six camps taught programming skills to more than 120 elementary, middle and high school students, and more than 40 tech business leaders volunteered and shared insights on their field. The council is looking to expand the camps into before- and after-school programs this fall.

In the past six months, the White House included Nashville on two national tech initiatives - TechHire and  ConnectHome - related to tech skills training and Internet access. Meanwhile, three major Internet providers are committing fiber connection to local residents, underscoring Nashville’s growing reputation as a tech city.

“It’s got huge momentum,” Huddleston said. “It’s fantastic.”

Huddleston is nearing his two-year anniversary as CEO, having left Microsoft in 2013 to take on the role. As he looks forward, he is focused on workforce development and community engagement, as well as developing legislative resources that can weigh in on tech-related policies.

Huddleston’s interest in bolstering the council’s public policy role began prior to this year's legislative session, but new taxes aimed at software companies further illustrated the need.

The tax, introduced by Gov. Bill Haslam this year, applies to out-of-state companies, based on their economic presence in Tennessee. The new law also requires out-of-state software and video game companies to collect a tax from Tennessee consumers who remotely access their services.

Bryan Huddleston is president and CEO of the Nashville Technology Council, which is working with 365 Data Centers.

“It will cost more money,” Huddleston said of the tax’s impact on software companies. “The benefits of having that business here and operating here would outweigh any negative impact from that tax. But still, we need to make certain our policy makers are continuously making good decisions and putting policies in place that promote the use of technology."

Reach Jamie McGee at 615-259-8071 and on Twitter @JamieMcGee_.