It’s a pre-Thanksgiving event aimed at bringing young professionals back to Michigan and more specifically, West Michigan. The “Rethink West Michigan” networking event will be held on Thanksgiving Eve—at the BOB in Grand Rapids plus four other locations throughout West Michigan.
“One of the questions that I get year round is, can you connect me with an employer. Well, this is a way for that person to take advantage of that and meet them face to face.”
That’s Cindy Brown. Executive Director for “Hello West Michigan.” She says with the holiday season upon us folks who have moved away are back in town to celebrate with family and friends. And for the 6th year, local partners are hoping a popular career event might lure some back to this area.
”The low hanging fruit are those who are from the area that have left, that understand West Michigan, they understand the weather, that want to come home. A lot of the people we’re talking with want to come home and bring their knowledge back and have that experience right where they grew up.”
Hello West Michigan and The Right Place are partnering to attract talent back with “Rethink West Michigan.” Across five events, there are 31 area participating employers… all with current openings. And with West Michigan growing at an incredible rate… Brown says the need is great.
“We have a forecasted growth expecting by the year 2025 that a third of our population must come from outside the area.”
So again, Rethink West Michigan hopes to answer the call bringing back qualified talent. By no means is this your traditional career fair; it’s a casual, professional environment to network.. and Brown says this year, they’ve even expanded, adding four events in addition to Grand Rapids.
ReThink events will be held at the BOB in Grand Rapids as well as at locations in Hastings, Ludington, Muskegon and Holland. Brown says you can find more info and all the details at rethink.com.
She adds the last number of events attracted over 550 professionals, resulting in over 53 hires.
