SHEBOYGAN COUNTY, WI (WHBL) - Earlier this month the Sheboygan County Chamber and the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation made public their “Someplace Better” effort to get more people to move to the county and fill job openings.
WHBL News recently asked the two entities how they will measure the program’s success.
Dane Checolinski with the EDC says some of the success will include maintaining the current job growth rate in the county. “We know that our growth pace has been adding about a thousand jobs year after year, and so one of the key success marks is to be able to maintain or increase that, more specifically to increase the number of jobs filled here. I think that’s going to have an impact on our population."
Checolinski adds there are other ways that success will be measured. "So I think between the analytics on the website, the responses we’re getting from companies on the success rates they’re having with their existing efforts, and plus the overall buzz in the community I think gives us a very good indication on the success of the campaign.”
Betsy Allis with the Chamber says success will be measured by the buzz in the community. “We just hope that the words “Someplace Better” start coming back, that we start hearing those in the community, that people start saying that to people, ‘I live in someplace better’. Even if it is tongue and cheek and fun, that how we kind of hope this plays out.”
Checolinski adds there are always ways for the program to be adjusted to get the best results possible, and those duties have been split between the EDC and the Chamber. “The Sheboygan County Chamber has done an excellent thing with the guide. The Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation is handling the website. Of course websites are dynamic; we can change it very rapidly if and when we need to. So we are looking for feedback to make it better. I think as we engage more and more companies with this, as we talk to more individuals in the HR profession I have no doubt that already the ideas are spinning around. Our challenge is not what ideas to take, our challenge will probably be to narrow those down to one or two more items."
Someplace Better was the focus of the most recent "A Closer Look" program. To view the interview click below: