Tap into Our Talent

The 1,000 people a day choosing Florida as home isn’t by accident. Their many reasons are highlighted at WonderFL.com — a new resource that showcases Florida’s eight diverse regions through the lenses of career exploration, community culture, cost of living, remote work, networking opportunities and emerging industries.

As showcased on WonderFL.com, whether you are seeking military-friendly communities rich in defense and cybersecurity, local charm, a thriving tech scene, lake life, space flight, nature, or a top 10 manufacturing and supply chain ecosystem, talent from everywhere is finding it in Florida.

Training Solutions and Resources
Across the state, innovative partnerships are engaging workers in transformational training and connecting them with employers eager to invest in their future. Those unique talent solutions are directly impacting Florida’s success in both job creation and capital investment.

One leading example of statewide talent solutions is CareerSource Florida. By virtue of training grants, business owners are able to become fully operational and profitable in less time and at a lower cost.

CareerSource Florida’s Quick Response Training and Incumbent Worker Training grants help companies keep pace with changing technologies as they recruit and train new and current employees in cutting-edge skills.

Employ Florida can help job seekers find work and employers connect with prospective candidates at employflorida.com.

In partnership with the Florida Department of Education, the CareerSource Florida network can help businesses find the best solutions to build a work-ready, custom-trained team by utilizing an existing apprenticeship program or creating their own. In fact, establishing an apprenticeship program in Florida can take fewer than 30 days!

CareerSource Tampa Bay
Apprenticeship-to-Career Empowerment (ACE)
Career seekers 18 to 29 years of age, from Hillsborough County, are receiving short-term occupational skills training that will result in industry-recognized certifications, a meaningful work experience with a local employer and a career pathway for a brighter future. The program is designed to engage low income individuals and youth aging out of foster care.

Earn Up
Invest in Your Future
Earn Up, JAXUSA’s workforce development initiative, is developing the next generation workforce by creating structures and programs that are tied into its target industries and high-growth areas. The Invest in Your Future program pairs the region’s companies with students, adult learners and veterans to provide a variety of real-world job experiences, including internships, apprenticeships, job shadowing, mentoring and more. The work-based learning activities are invaluable for the companies to build homegrown talent with skills needed for mutual success.

Ready to Work
Skilled Trades, Marine & Manufacturing Boot Camp
Realizing that manufacturers, skilled trades and the marine industry were all competing for the same employee, economic development partners in St. Lucie County asked the Treasure Coast Builders Association to expand its bootcamp and provide real life hands-on training across multiple industries. The result was an initial five-day program that attracted 52 attendees between the ages of 17 and 22 who explored 16 occupations, received soft skills training and attended a job fair. The boot camp participants were paid $15 per hour during training, and immediately following graduation 15 local employers interviewed them for open positions at their companies.

Good Jobs Challenge
Public-Private Partnerships
In addition, Florida was awarded two of the 32 Good Jobs Challenge Grants from the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

Florida Gulf Coast University, in partnership with the FutureMakers Coalition at Collaboratory, was awarded $22.9 million in September 2022. The goal of the project is to place nearly 1,700 unemployed and underemployed individuals in good, quality jobs in Southwest Florida (Lee, Collier, Hendry, Glades and Charlotte counties). The project, appropriately named the Southwest Florida Equitable Jobs Pipeline, is focused on training and job placement in legacy and emerging industries in the region: health care, PK-12 education, logistics and manufacturing.

The comprehensive project recognizes the success of employer-led workforce models and engages all relevant stakeholders, including training providers, employers, nonprofits and other community-based organizations, local government, and job seekers during implementation.

The Miami Tech Talent Coalition, powered by Miami Tech Works, received a $10 million Good Jobs Challenge Grant, prompting executives from 100 South Florida companies — plus leaders from universities, colleges, tech training bootcamps and community organizations — to join the coalition and help prime the tech-talent pipeline.

With the three-year funding, leaders from Florida International University, Miami Dade College, Ironhack, 4Geeks, BrainStation, Florida Memorial, Barry University, Northeastern University Miami and others have created four working groups that encompass emerging tech talent, inclusive tech talent, tech skills gaps and small business capacity building.

Business Development Board
Private School Task Force
The Business Development Board of Palm Beach County leads a Private School Task Force comprised of nearly 20 headmasters from local private schools, along with a representative from the Florida Atlantic University School District. The group conducts recruitment missions to other U.S. markets, promotes school expansions, and establishes direct connections with newly relocating CEOs.

Tags: Business Florida, Competitive Assets