By Chamise Jones
MASC 688
RICHMOND, Va. – Twenty six-year-old Sabrina Mercado lost her New York marketing job in January to the effects of the challenging economy. When faced with the decision of what to do next, she packed her bags and moved to Richmond, Virginia.
“I think it’s amazing how Richmond is a city, but it has such a small-town feel,” said Mercado. “This is the perfect place to raise a family. But then for the younger side of me, there are so many professionals here as well.”
Mercado is originally from Puerto Rico, and after coming to Richmond for a brief visit last year, she says she was anxious to return.
Many young professionals, like Mercado, are relocating to areas that offer better employment opportunities, more affordable living costs and age-specific networking groups. In recent years Richmond has become a more popular option for the millennial generation.
Next Generation Consulting is Wisconsin based research firm that works with cities and companies to better engage the next generation, 20 to 40 year olds. NGC also monitors which areas best cater to the needs of local professionals.
While the company did release a ‘Hot Jobs Cool Communities’ list in 2001, this is the first year the company has released their first annual “Next Cities” list, ranking Richmond as one of the top 20 cities for young professionals to work and live in the United States.
Local young professional organizations host networking events at various Richmond venues. Click on the photo for an audio slide show about HYPE, one of Richmond leading young professional organizations.
Lead Consultant at NGC Peter Moorehouse says that Richmond made the list, which was released in June, after being compared to all 330 U.S cities with a population of 100,000 or more. The list was broken into three separate divisions based on size and population. Richmond was listed in the “might micros” category, among cities containing populations between 100,000 to 200,000.
“Being added to the list is recognition that [Richmond] has the amenities and is very well positioned to be a magnet for the next generation,” Moorehouse said.
The recession has caused many cities and companies to divert their focus from attracting new and qualified talent to conserving the talent they. While the economic circumstances companies are facing are temporary, Moorehouse says the impending generational issues will have a more long-term effect.
“In the next 5 to 15 years we’re going to have a whole bunch of baby boomers who are going to be exiting the workforce leaving a lot of holes where they were,” Moorehouse said. “So every city’s companies need to be concerned about their retirement and every city needs to be concerned about what they’re doing to attract and retain the talented workforce their company will need.”
Richmond’s Effort Attract and Retain Young Professionals
The Greater Richmond Partnership exists to help grow the area’s economy by attracting new businesses to the region and helping to retain and expand existing businesses. Vice President of Existing Business Services Sara Dunnigan says their current focus has shifted to make sure that local talent stay connected to the Richmond area.
“Young people make such an important contribution, so it’s important that we keep them engaged. Secondly they’re the leaders of the future,” Dunnigan said. “If these people pick up and go somewhere else, we’re left with this huge donut hole.”
Some Richmoders lament the recent loss of major companies, such as Circuit City and LandAmerica, who both had robust internship programs. However, Dunnigan says that there are a large number of dynamic small to mid-sized companies that value the new ideas young professionals bring into the business place.
“We’ve got a combination in Richmond of very long-standing more traditional businesses, but then we’ve also got this swell of, what I would call, high-potential companies that recognize that bringing in new thought is going to be really important to their long-term success,” Dunnigan said.
Next Generation Consulting evaluates every city’s preparedness for the next generation on seven different indexes. The categories include earning, learning, vitality, around town, after hours, cost of lifestyle, and social capital. NGC researchers then collect quantitative data from each city to develop an index rating.
Richmond scored the highest in the learning index, which looks at the number of post- secondary institutions, libraries, as well as the money spent on public education. It scored the lowest in the “after hours” index, looking at cultural amenities and entertainment venues, in comparison to other “Next Cities.”
Dana Bolfing, 25, is a local sales executive who moved to Richmond, after graduating from James Madison University. Bolfing currently works with Park Group, a local production company. While she had only intended to stay for a year, she has now been here for three years.
“It definitely sucks you in. It’s a nice blend for the young professional in terms of night life, restaurants, and shopping,” Bolfing said. “It’s also a nice hub, because it’s close to the beach and to D.C., which are good places to visit on weekends.”
After relocating from Charlottesville, Virginia, Bolfing says Richmond offered a diverse atmosphere and more activities than she had been used to.
Over the past few years Richmond has made an effort to cater to the young adult population, by organizing young professional organizations, such as HYPE (Helping Young Professionals Engage) which offers young adults a resource for professional development and networking opportunities.
“We’re making a concerted effort to attract new young talent to Richmond and to also keep the young talent that we have here,” said Corey Humphrey, Small Business Program Manager for the Greater Richmond Chamber.
Humphrey, 25, is a Richmond native who says that in recent years Richmond has become a thriving place for young professionals. HYPE was launched in 2007 through the Chamber with the goal of showcasing the Richmond region and catering to young people.
HYPE was started under the recommendation of Jim Crupi, a research consultant, commissioned by the Chamber. According to his report, Crupi was asked to conduct a study of Richmond in the early 90’s and was rehired in 2007 to re-examine the metro area and make recommendations that would enhance [Richmond’s] future and competitive position.”
“One of the major things that he identified is that this region needed a young professional group that makes an effort to say to young professionals that we want you here and that we value your contributions to our community,” Humphrey said.
Click here to learn more about why Humphrey says Richmond is a great place to live.
While HYPE is nearly two and a half years old, it has a team of 25 volunteers that help oversee the organization. It offers young professionals educational seminars and social networking events around the city and is highly respected by local businesses.
“HYPE has done a great job of creating some opportunities for young professionals to be a part of Richmond’s future and I think they’ve brought a legitimacy to those voices and their opinions,” said Dunnigan of The Greater Richmond Partnership.
After relocating from New York to Richmond, Mercado landed a position with a supplemental U.S insurance provider. She heard about HYPE from her manager and has recently gotten involved to begin networking to meeting other young professionals in the area.
“If you’re into HYPE it’s because you want to do something. Everybody’s your age and they have that ambition. They’re hungry to be successful,” Mercado said. “And if you surround yourself with successful people, you will be successful.
HYPE is one of many young professional organizations forming around the country in an effort to prevent the “brain drain” concept of loosing qualified people to other markets.
In addition to catering to local professionals who are present, Richmond has also initiated a program to attract and retain talented young professionals to the region. YRichmond was started in 2007 to showcase the Richmond region to potential hires.
Watch the video below to learn about Richmond’s intern recruitment program, YRichmond.
The National Young Professional Movement
The Young Professionals Organizations of America (YPOA), headquartered in Portland Ore. was established in 2006 after the success of its first chapter, the Young Professionals Organization of Portland, (YPOP) which began in 2004.
Executive Director of the YPOA, Jason Trombley, 25, says that the YPOA serves as a resource to help others young professionals organize chapters around the country that will follow the same pattern of YPOP.
“There are three arms to the organization, one is a social aspect, another is community service, and then educational development, providing an array of opportunities to become more informed and get a sense of where their community is going and how they can best make an impact early on to really make a long-term impact,” said Trombley.
Since the YPOA began, it currently represents seven chapters and is looking to open another three to four by the end of 2009.
HYPE often looks to other organizations around the country to improve or gain insight. Humphrey says one of the organizations he often benchmarks against is MAGNET, one of the country’s leading young professional organizations, based out of Madison, Wis.
Next Generation Consulting ranked Madison, Wisconsin as the number one “Next City” in the “midsized magnets” category for cities with populations of 200,000 to 500,000. Magnet Executive Director Molly Lahr says that she receives a resume a week from young professionals looking to move to the Madison area.
“Madison is a beautiful community that has plenty of different activities from the arts and cultural activities to sporting activities and festivals,” Lahr said. “The quality of life in the area is superb”
Lahr also mentioned that some young professionals accept jobs with a lower pay grades just for the opportunity to live in the Madison area. Magnet was founded in 2004, with a similar mission to HYPE’s of attracting and retaining young talent to their region.
“Structurally, Magnet is not under the Chamber of Commerce,” Lahr said. Because they are a separate entity, she says Magnet is able to make its own organizational decisions which she contributes to their success.
The annual membership fee to join is $35.00, which pays for all MAGNET events. In contrast, HYPE is not a member organization and all events are open to the public. Attendees pay for each event separately.
While location plays a major part for most young professionals when seeking job opportunities, others are more concerned about seizing a great opportunity than location or destination loyalty, like 22-year-old Kadero Watson of Richmond, Virginia.
Watson recently graduated from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa. with a degree in Business Administration.
“For me personally, [Richmond] wasn’t a great area just because of what I wanted to go into,” Watson said. “For my profession, it’s just not the place to be.”
The newlywed-Watson moved to Norman, Okla. at the end of June, leaving his immediate family behind in Richmond, for a graduate Assistant position in the Athletic Department at the University of Oklahoma. Watson says his long-term goal is to be an Athletic Director in professional sports.
Since Richmond presently has no big conference schools and no professional teams, Watson says that he didn’t search for any jobs locally.
“I actually looked for the job first and then thought about the city,” Watson said, after receiving two job offers initially, one in New York City and the other in Oklahoma.
“I chose Oklahoma because, I was able to continue my education while working and my living expenses were a lot cheaper which helps with me just coming out of college,” Watson said.
While Richmond can’t possibly appeal to every young professional, they have made an increased effort in recent years to cater to the young professional community. Humphrey, who runs Hype on behalf of the Chamber, says the city has greatly improved over the years and has become more welcoming to young professional community.
“The businesses and the people in this community seem to understand now that we are competing for talent with every other city in the country,” said Humphrey.
In July 2009, The Society for Human Resource Management released its annual list of the 50 Best Small and Medium Companies to Work for in America. See the maps below for locations and information on this years’ winners.
25 Best Small Companies to Work For
View 25 Best Small Companies to Work for in America in a larger map
25 Best Medium Companies to Work For
View 25 Best Medium Companies to Work For in America in a larger map
