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By Kym Reinstadler | MiBiz
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David R. Newhouse retired from General Motors shortly before it declared bankruptcy. He participated in Michigan Shifting Gears program and is now president of InterClean, a small business where he did an internship 14 months ago. COURTESY PHOTO

WEST MICHIGAN — The Great Recession that choked Michigan’s economy until it groaned and contracted has snuffed out thousands of jobs, but the Michigan Economic Development Corp. refuses to wave a white flag.

Instead, they’re putting out wanted signs in the hopes of finding laid-off executives, millennials and boomerangs.

The organization shot many arrows into the air that are aimed at keeping down-sized executives and new college graduates in Michigan, plus lure back professionals with ties to the state.

But with so many programs on tap, it’s easy to wonder how the MEDC will know if its efforts to retain and attract the type of talent that drives economic prosperity are hitting their targets.

“We’re definitely metrics-driven, although the legs on some programs are longer than others,” said Amy Cell, MEDC’s senior VP of talent enhancement. “Money is tight in government. We don’t expect funding if we can’t show an amazing return.”

Some MEDC talent development programs have their genesis in Ann Arbor Spark, the former employer of Cell and her boss, MEDC CEO Mike Finney. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder once served on Ann Arbor Spark’s board and is supportive of strategies to reverse “bright flight.”

Cell recently talked with MiBiz about the MEDC’s most popular initiatives and how their effectiveness will be measured.

Michigan Shifting Gears

The program that’s making “magical” changes in lives of some seasoned professionals is Michigan Shifting Gears, Cell said.

For a low fee, the statewide program provides networking opportunities, job search coaching and non-paid work experiences that allow mid-career professionals — many who have been downsized from large corporations — to go to work for small businesses.

There’s more opportunity these days with small companies, but the work environment there is different than at large corporations, Cell said. Participants practice prioritizing a wide range of duties, making decisions with incomplete information and taking risks without getting an ulcer.

“It never would have occurred to me to do a pro bono project to find a new job,” said David Newhouse, a participant in Michigan Shifting Gears’ second cohort group. “In a small business, I have more influence. But I would not have left my comfort zone if I hadn’t lost my job and done Michigan Shifting Gears.”

Newhouse — who earned business degrees from the University of Michigan and the University of Detroit Mercy — worked for General Motors for 24 years in marketing and business strategy before being forced to take early retirement in 2008, just before GM declared bankruptcy.

At age 55, Newhouse believed he had a lot to offer another company, but he worried small businesses would assume they couldn’t afford him.

Newhouse did a project that led to paid consulting work at InterClean, a Ypsilanti-based company that specializes in oversized wash systems — the kind you drive a train or a tractor-trailer through.

Fifteen months after Newhouse met the team at InterClean, its Finnish owner named him president of the 50-person company.

Newhouse doesn’t want to be the career-change poster boy. He says he’s lucky, but he thinks other down-sized execs can strike gold through Michigan Shifting Gears, too.

Cell says work experiences, not job offers, are the goal of internships. Nevertheless, 40 to 50 percent of participants in the first seven cohorts found jobs within three months. Six months after their rotation, 50 to 60 percent have jobs. After nine months, 70 percent were working.

Some desired career changes remain difficult to navigate, Cell said.

“We try to support everyone until they land,” Cell said. “People who want to move into the nonprofit sector are having a hard time now because not much hiring is going on.”

LiveWorkDetroit

This initiative shops Detroit as a hip, hot place for young professionals and college students. It appeals to 20-somethings’ attraction to Detroit, a city that is being reborn and needs the youthful and visionary talent to help the phoenix rise.

The goal is to stem “brain drain.” The state has been “exporting” too many recent graduates, who tend to prefer urban living and just assume Michigan companies aren’t hiring, Cell said.

For a nominal fee, the program transports students to the city and shows them the highlights, feeds them lunch, then introduces them to seasoned professionals and peers working with companies that anticipate openings.

More than 250 students from 20 Michigan colleges and universities participated in the first LiveWorkDetroit outing in March, so similar come-see-us events were subsequently held and were well-attended in Midland and Holland — other “opportunity dense” areas for recent college grads.

“Planting the seed before they graduate is so important,” Cell said. “The tracking is also harder because students are graduating at different times.”

The MEDC plans to check in with participants about every six months to see if they relocated in Detroit or another city they checked out during a similar event.

MichAGAIN

This initiative works through alumni clubs and social media to urge graduates of Michigan colleges whose careers have taken them out state to consider returning.

Its pitch: Exciting new technologies are emerging, venture capital is flowing, big names are arriving, and promising new businesses are emerging. In short: Life is even better than you remember it.

Attending a MichAGAIN mixer in San Francisco, or wherever, tells people with ties to the state that Michigan wants them back, Cell said.

“We think it’s an approach worth doing,” she said, “but it could be years before we begin to see an uptick in in-migration that can be tied to it.”

Follow-up and having the staff to execute the events will be important, Cell said. For every 100 people who attend a MichAGAIN event, Cell hopes for 10 solid leads of people serious about coming back.

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TAGS:

• david newhouse
• interclean
• liveworkdetroit
• michigan economic development
• west michigan