Local Business People Weigh In On Future Of Jobs For Minnesota Millennials
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – More millennials are calling the Twin Cities home. Minneapolis, St. Paul and select surrounding suburbs have seen population increases by this generation of more than 10 percent since 2007.
So, what does the future look like for the largest generation in the state?
Well, pretty promising.
There are 18 Fortune 500 companies based in the Twin Cities.
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development is predicting a widespread labor force shortage. According to the department, in seven years, or by 2022, the need for workers will outpace local growth by 86,000 jobs.
The final day in WCCO This Morning's four-part series takes a closer look at what it will take to attract and retain the right talent.
From the coke machine to your very own latte toon site yoga, CFO of Code 42 Jason Bristow, a Minnesota based file sharing company, says they're all about appealing to millennials.
"We find in our offices people really appreciate the ability to work not just tethered to their desk but everywhere," Bristow said.
Bristow, a former Amazon employee and native Minnesotan, recently moved back to work at Code 42.
"We love the millennials because the customer message that we have is similar to how they think. People are using more than three devices to work," Bristow said.
Sixty percent of the tech company's workforce is made up of millennials. A good majority of them are engineers.
Peter Frosch, vice president of strategic partnership at GREATER MSP, didn't quite make it into the millennial generation age range, but but he continues to help this newest generation to join the workforce.
"If you're moving here you're about to encounter decades of opportunity across this economy," Frosch said.
Frosch was referring to the workforce shortage DEED is predicting.
GREATER MSP, a non-partisan group, is aiming to attract young talent to the metro. Everyday Frosch is meeting with young talent, CEOs, and working on getting Minnesota's message out there.
"Minneapolis-St. Paul is one of the three top places in the country where young talent have both economic opportunity and mobility, and affordability," Frosch said.
In fact, Minneapolis-St. Paul is just behind Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City.
The report by Derek Thompson, data from Raj Chetty and Jed Kolko, weighed in on two major factors: housing costs and the ability for those under 35 to move up in their careers.
Frosch said the real key is getting people here, like Detroit transplant Ashley Johnson.
Johnson, 25, co-founded, Retention Strategy, a young professionals group which focuses on trying to keep young minority talent in Minnesota.
"It's no Los Angeles, it's no New York City. But Minneapolis has great potential to be one of those cities," Johnson said. "You call it the land of 10,000 lakes, and I think of it as the land of 10,000 opportunities," Johnson said.
Even the brain child behind state's newest Explore Minnesota ad, Colle+McVoy, attracts a large number of millennials. Over half of the employees are part of that generation.
"Collaboration is imperative and millennials really value being a part of a team. They want to have a contribution. They also want to grow and learn," CEO of Colle+McVoy Christine Fruechte said.
Fruechte recently spoke on panel moderated by CNN's Poppy Harlow, discussing how to attract more young talent to the state. The panel focused on rebranding the Twin Cities as "The North."
"I think there's a huge opportunity. I think the word is already getting out that the great state of Minnesota is a well-kept secret. We have a great lifestyle here and on the international stage we are attracting great events," Fruechte said.
Read more of Ali Lucia's Minnesota Millennial stories.
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Our WCCO Morning team took a quiz to see just how millennial they were.
See how millennial you are by taking the quiz here.
