TechHire meeting slated to talk about employment needs

Tampa business leaders are meeting to talk about employment needs Feb. 9 as part of the nationwide TechHire initiative focused on jobseekers 17 to 29.
 
Among them is Mike Burnett, Regional Account Executive for Northern Technologies Group Inc., an IT solutions company in Lutz. NTG began operating a second facility in late January at Bears Avenue and Interstate 275, enabling it to better serve its client base.
 
NTG is looking to hire four to six employees and is expecting to continue to expand. NTG employs 60 and is “top-heavy with engineers,” Burnett says.
 
“We are currently the end-to-end IT department for organizations as small as 20 users and up to 1,500 total users,” he explains.
 
Burnett says he hopes NTG will be one of those places employees look to for opportunities through the TechHire program. They are looking for people with the “right attitude” who are “willing to learn” and be “part of our growing team,” he adds.
 
The Feb. 9 meeting will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the Ybor Room at Hillsborough Community College’s Ybor Campus, according to the event’s organizer, The Tampa Bay Innovation Alliance. Contact the alliance to reserve a seat.
 
The meeting also features Travis Bond, CEO and Founder of Caresync, a leading provider of software and services for chronic care management. Caresync has located its headquarters at Hidden River Corporate Park at Interstate 75 and Fletcher Avenue in Tampa -- and committed to expanding its staff to 500 this year.
 
The company recently brought 150 existing jobs to its Hidden River facility. It is looking to hire employees to work as clinical care coordinators and product developers, as well as in human resources, information technology and administration.
 
The meeting is for tech businesses and those who want to start a business. It follows a Dec. 15 meeting.
 
The alliance’s job is to provide feedback about the gap in talent in the area, says Kelley Sims, the alliance’s Senior Vice President. It would like employers to agree to give preference to graduates through the TechHire program.
 
“Our goal is to engage 150 businesses in the area to basically support and be prepared to look at these graduates,” Sims says.
 
The alliance wants to deepen its understanding of the area’s employment needs. “We want to mine the data on the specifics of who they’ve hired and where there have been gaps,” she says.
 
Tampa Bay was awarded $3.8 million last summer to pay for technical training and connect people with jobs. In December, Tampa Bay was officially recognized as a TechHire community.
 
The initiative was started by then-President Barack Obama in March 2015, with goal of creating a tech talent pipeline across the nation.