The Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corporation officially launched its talent attraction campaign last week.
Several media outlets in the region have been talking about the MakeMyMove platform in recent weeks but have not included all of the pieces surrounding the program. MakeMyMove is an online application process that attracts specific professionals to municipalities on the platform through an incentive package offered by each municipality.
Executive Director Kristin Jamison says that MakeMyMove is just one piece of the Talent Attraction Campaign in hopes of driving more skilled workers and their families to move to the region: “JREDC is implementing a strategy that MakeMyMove is one piece of that puzzle. We really wanted to do something that helped promote the types of positions that we have in the Jacksonville area, promote Jacksonville as a great place to live, work, and do business. We know that once you get people here, they are going to fall in love with this area – Morgan and Scott counties. We have three pieces of the puzzle with our Talent Attraction Campaign. One is the MakeMyMove platform. The second is digital ads that are aggressively geo-fencing and pinpointing the type of people that could fulfill positions that are open in this region. The third is a set of videos that would really explain what life is like in Jacksonville. The first of those videos just went live on Thursday to explain why people think Jacksonville is a great place to live. We worked on the video project with the Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce.”
Jamison says its a way to express the message in various channels to various people all across the country in order to get the word out about the Jacksonville region. The first of 3 videos dropped on Thursday. Watch it here.
Jamison says that JREDC has paid a subscription cost to be involved with the nationwide MakeMyMove platform in hopes of getting 3 people out of a pool of applications to move to Jacksonville.
The move would give the 3 applicants a number of coupons, discounts, and $5,000 if they remained in the Jacksonville region for 1 year. Jamison says that the total incentive package is worth approximately $9,300 in hopes of fully incorporating those 3 new residents into all of Jacksonville.
Jamison says that applicants to the program have to meet a certain set of requirements, including living outside of a 70 mile radius of the city. She says that the goal is to not steal from neighboring towns and municipalities in the region. She also says the other requirements are a bit more stringent: “We also want the applicant to annually make $50,000 or greater. We want them to have a certain amount of buying power when they move here. As a part of the application process, they have to attest to their residency and their income. I think the premise of MakeMyMove.com overall is for people that are remote workers or self-employed. It’s an absolute great strategy to bring those people to your neighborhoods. We are absolutely going to be looking at their backgrounds, because if we have like industries or sectors that they might end up wanting to take a position here, that’s ultimately the best case scenario…Also the idea that many of these folks that have applied are bringing with them family members. That also helps increase our school population possibly and the sales tax base – all of those things that are helpful when we are trying to grow our communities.”
As of Thursday, Jamison says that there have been 56 applicants. She says that’s a great start because even if those other 53 applicants don’t win, JREDC may be able to match them up with an employer in the region and still bring them to Jacksonville.
More information can be found at jredc.org/workforce/talentattractionincentive.