Tag: talent

Four San Diego programs helping Latinx professionals thrive

By San Diego Regional EDC,

Originally published on San Diego: Life. Changing.

September 15 kicks off Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States—a time to honor and celebrate the diverse cultures, rich heritage, and endless contributions of Latinx and Hispanic people in our country.

As a binational region, this community has long shaped, built, and led San Diego. And in observance of the month, we’ve compiled just a few of the many programs helping Latinx professionals thrive and climb in San Diego.

MAAC

MAAC helps local families achieve self-sufficiency through its pathways of service—advocacy and leadership development, economic development, education, health and wellbeing, and housing. The nonprofit offers multiple high-quality programs like its Unidos in Finance program to help kickstart your career in financial services with online training and job placement assistance.

Explore MAAC’s full menu of services and save the date for its upcoming Soirée.

MANA de San Diego

MANA de San Diego is part of a National Latina Organization that serves to empower Latinas through education, leadership development, community service, and advocacy. Its four-month Latina Success Leadership Program takes aim at the glass ceiling and addresses the problem of under-representation of Latinas in leadership roles through a series of sessions focused on leadership development, building resiliency, and increasing civic engagement.

Learn more about the program and stay tuned for the announcement of its next cohort’s application round in January 2023. And, if you’re a Latina in business, join MANA de San Diego for its Latina Success Conference in October.

SD2

Interested in a STEM career? San Diego Squared (SD2) focuses on helping underrepresented students enter careers in STEM by providing access to education, mentorship, and resources they need to thrive. Made possible through partnerships with San Diego companies like Illumina and Neurocrine Biosciences, SD2 connects educators and high school and college students to funding.

Explore its funding opportunities and check out its STEM Capsules for a series of inspiring videos highlighting BIPOC STEM professionals’ stories and advice for you.

San Diego County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

As San Diego’s largest business association representing the Hispanic community with over 500 members, San Diego County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s events and programs are a perfect way to grow your network and market your business.

Want to start your business and don’t know where to start? Connect with like-minded individuals at the Chamber’s monthly Cafecito and networking events with Latino business owners and leaders.

How can you support Latinx San Diegans?

Learning about Hispanic heritage, amplifying diverse stories and voices, and shopping at Latinx-owned businesses are just some of the many ways we can support all year round. This month and every month, we celebrate the accomplishments, resiliency, innovation, and leadership of San Diego’s Hispanic and Latinx community.

Resources for recruiting and retaining talent in San Diego

By Taylor Dunne, Talent Initiatives Manager,

Last edited November 2022

As of May 2022, there were 75,630 unique jobs posted in San Diego County, but only 42,100 unemployed San Diegans. Couple this talent shortage with unrealistic demands around compensation, benefits, and remote work, it’s fair to say we are living the most competitive battle for talent yet.

To meet employer demand, our region needs to double the number of post-secondary degree, certificate, or program completions per year. In particular, investing in Black and Hispanic youth would turn San Diego’s talent shortage into a surplus. More on Inclusive Growth here.

As part of our ongoing talent development efforts, EDC has compiled an ongoing hub of programs and initiatives below to help you fill your high-demand San Diego roles. Sign up for the talent newsletter for ongoing opportunities to participate in the development of our talent pipeline.

HIRE TALENT

SELL SAN DIEGO

UPSKILL EXISTING TALENT

BUILD YOUR PIPELINE

For more support, contact:

Taylor Dunne
Taylor Dunne

Director, Talent Initiatives

Need Cyber talent? Meet our Preferred Provider programs

By Taylor Dunne,

Last updated with new Preferred Providers June 13, 2022.

As part of its talent related initiatives, San Diego Regional EDC joined forces with San Diego Workforce Partnership and the Cyber Center of Excellence to launch CyberHire—a program designed to address the region’s growing demand for Cybersecurity talent and connect job seekers to secure meaningful careers.

Through two rounds of competitive application processes, the following education providers have been designated Preferred Providers of Cybersecurity and IT Talent, recognition from industry for their work in most effectively training the entry-level local workforce:

Preferred Providers of IT Talent:

Preferred Providers of Cybersecurity Talent:

Through the CyberHire program, participants enrolled in the Preferred Provider programs receive industry-verified certification in A+ and Network+ or Security+ along with career counseling and wrap-around services from the San Diego Workforce Partnership.

View the full Preferred Provider network

Hiring IT or Cyber talent?

If you are a San Diego business interested in hiring CyberHire participants to fill your entry-level IT and Cybersecurity roles, contact us. Through funding provided by the James Irvine Foundation, the San Diego Workforce Partnership will:

  • Place program participants in paid internships.
  • Subsidize wages for on-the-job training.
  • Host events for employers to meet CyberHire participants and showcase career opportunities at their companies.

LEARN MORE ABOUT EMPLOYER PARTICIPATION!

About CyberHire: Presented by The James Irvine Foundation, CyberHire aims to transition unemployed, underemployed, and low-wage workers to quality Cybersecurity careers. CyberHire will help San Diegans launch a meaningful career that allows them to support themselves and their families.

Learn more

Want to hire CyberHire participants? Contact us:

Taylor Dunne
Taylor Dunne

Director, Talent Initiatives

Meet our Advancing San Diego Preferred Providers of Life Sciences Talent

By San Diego Regional EDC,

Source your science talent from these edu programs…

Fueled by industries like Tech, Defense, and Life Sciences, San Diego’s innovation economy relies on a pipeline of diverse talent. However, local companies continue to cite access to quality talent as a persistent and growing challenge. Ninety-eight percent of firms in San Diego are small companies (<100 employees) that often lack time and resources to effectively compete for talent with their larger counterparts. Meanwhile, many San Diegans are disconnected from high-demand job opportunities, largely due to education requirements.

Made possible by JPMorgan Chase, Advancing San Diego is a demand-driven strategy to address talent shortages and remove barriers for small companies to access qualified workers. It is a collaborative effort between EDC, San Diego and Imperial Counties Community College Association, San Diego Workforce Partnership, City of San Diego, and United Way of San Diego.

Over the last six months, Advancing San Diego partners worked with a group of 22 employers to develop skills-based criteria for Lab Technicians (aka Research Assistants). We asked that any education provider meeting that criteria apply for the Preferred Provider designation. An employer-led review panel then evaluated these applicants against the skills criteria to determine which programs should be designated as ‘Preferred Providers,’ recognized as those most effectively preparing individuals for jobs and internships as Lab Technicians.

EDC is eager to announce Preferred Providers of Life Sciences Talent:

Need science talent?

Advancing San Diego will select up to 20 high-growth Life Sciences companies in the region to host paid Lab Technician/Research Assistant interns, sourced from the above Preferred Provider programs, at no cost to the business. Selected companies will be asked to host two interns for 240 hours each during the Summer 2022. Interns will be paid through Advancing San Diego, and have access to additional funds to support their success in the workplace. Apply here—applications close February 14.

Sign up to receive updates on Advancing San Diego

For more information, visit AdvancingSD.org.

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Advancing San Diego, employers identify highest regional talent needs

By San Diego Regional EDC,

Now in its sixth round, Advancing San Diego (ASD) addresses skilled talent shortages and increases diversity in high-growth, high-demand jobs. A program of EDC and key community partners, ASD leads employer collaboratives that recognize local training programs most effectively preparing San Diegans for quality jobs; pairing students of those programs with local employers for paid internships; and strengthening community partnerships to power San Diego’s talent pipeline of tomorrow. 

To help students build meaningful careers in local, high-demand jobs in key industries, ASD welcomed its Business and Manufacturing cohorts this year, pairing 48 student interns with 25 small companies, of which 19 were woman-, person of color-, veteran-, or disabled-owned. All of the 48 student interns were considered priority students, meaning they identified with a historically under-resourced population, are a first generation or community college student, or currently live or went to high school in a low income neighborhood of San Diego. 

ASD is currently convening employers from the Healthcare industry and has recognized seven programs as Preferred Providers for their work in training Medical Assistants. Students from those programs will be placed in internships beginning in early 2022. See the full network of Preferred Providers here. 

Advancing San Diego by the numbers, 2021

48

student interns placed

25

small companies paired with high-demand talent

99

job applications submitted on Career Exploration Day

A core part of this work includes direct collaboration with industry. ASD convened six working groups made up of industry leaders from San Diego companies including Northrop Grumman, Rady Children’s Hospital, and Takeda, among others, who together shared the most-needed roles in their firms by sector. Each of their findings were summarized in the talent demand reports below:

These reports serve to inform curriculum for universities and education programs to develop our regional talent pipeline.

Learn more and get involved here, or contact us!

Taylor Dunne
Taylor Dunne

Director, Talent Initiatives


2021: World Trade Center San Diego supports 50 businesses as region works toward recovery

By World Trade Center San Diego,

15

companies supported

850

jobs supported

$10 M

net export increase, 2021

World Trade Center San Diego (WTCSD), an affiliate of San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (EDC), cultivates a pipeline of export-ready firms, maximizes foreign direct investment (FDI) opportunities, and enhances San Diego’s global identity. A globally-connected economy creates quality jobs and makes the San Diego region more prosperous, competitive, and resilient – especially crucial amid COVID-19 and its aftershocks.

As we look toward 2022, here are four key ways WTCSD helped make San Diego a more globally competitive, resilient region:

1. MetroConnect V helps companies go global, awards fifth winner

2021 was an exciting year for WTCSD’s MetroConnect export accelerator program as the fifth cohort of incredible small to mid-sized San Diego companies wrapped up participation in the program.

These companies received $5,000 grants to bolster their export initiatives and international expansion efforts. Amid a pandemic, companies needed more digital support services than ever to help navigate growing e-commerce needs during the pandemic. To support, WTCSD held a Digital Trade Series, which assessed each client’s needs and arranged one-on-one counseling sessions with contracted e-commerce experts.

Over the course of the program, one company stood out – with MetroConnect’s support, satellite-based communications and fleet management company Blue Sky Network generated a 36 percent increase in monthly recurring revenue in Brazil, as well as its largest order to date. To support this growth, the company hired seven new full-time employees. Ultimately, WTCSD crowned Blue Sky Network MetroConnect V’s winner and awarded it a $25,000 grant toward its international expansion goals.

Over the past five years of MetroConnect, 80 companies collectively leveraged $890,000 in export grants, resulting in a $95 million net increase in exports from the San Diego region.

2. WTCSD debuts a regional trade and investment strategy for 2025

In 2015, San Diego Regional EDC’s release of “Go Global: San Diego’s Trade and Investment Initiative,” launched the World Trade Center in San Diego, bringing regional companies and stakeholders together with a global vision. Throughout 2020 and early 2021, WTC engaged many of the same partners, and new ones, in an effort to gauge how the region measured up to it, more than five years later. This 2021 update analyzed the state of exports, foreign investment and VC, as well as the extraordinary impact of COVID. Through rigorous data analysis dozens of interviews with public and private-sector leaders, WTC synthesized a set of five key priorities the region should focus on over the next five years. Find out what they are here. Key findings include:

  • 2020 saw $3 billion in foreign investment into San Diego
  • 73 percent of investment into San Diego is in Life Sciences
  • San Diego exports $22 billion in goods each year
  • San Diego is a top 10 services exporter among U.S. metros

Heading into 2022, we expect to see FDI investment portfolios return to the same levels seen in 2019.

3. Export Small Business Development Center (SBDC) supports export and COVID-relief projects

Beyond MetroConnect, the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at WTCSD provided 35 export-ready small companies with the support needed to navigate international goals, including exports, manufacturing support, and more.

In addition to expansion support, the Export Specialty Center continued to offer COVID-19 recovery resources at no cost, helping San Diego companies like Funki Adventures apply to Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) 2nd Draw, Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, and City and County small business grants.

Finally, the Global Readiness Program saw a partnership between WTCSD and the University of San Diego help local small to mid-sized businesses secure STEP grants to grow the regional export pipeline.

4. WTCSD serves as a key source of market intelligence

WTCSD conducted a series of business surveys to better inform decision making of regional partners and affiliates. These included:

Corporate Travel Survey:

  • Survey of 12 large businesses and two non-profits in the region to better understand travel and budgets forecasts for the year ahead. This information was critical for the retention of existing service out of SAN and for the attraction of future direct flights. It found:
    • 79 percent of respondents are willing to pay a premium to fly on a San Diego nonstop route versus flying out from Tijuana or Los Angeles
    • 56 percent of respondents expressed a desire for nonstop service to Mexico City and Sao Paulo

EDC Changing Business Landscape Survey:

  • Survey of more than 100 business in the San Diego region, aimed at informing long-term development priorities, across business areas. It found:
    • 14 percent of respondents currently import and/or export out of the Port of San Diego
    • 24 percent of those surveyed would be interested in using the Port of San Diego if they provided service to the types of goods they ship

READ THE FULL REPORT

Interested in growing your business internationally?

World Trade Center San Diego works directly with companies – free of charge – to help them expand internationally and grow in San Diego. Whether your small company is interested in learning about exporting and international growth, or your small or medium-sized company is ready to export and grow internationally, World Trade Center San Diego is here to help.

Ready to export? Apply to MetroConnect VI by December 17.

Want to know more about WTCSD? Click here to receive our monthly Global Brief Newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.

Need digital talent for your San Diego business? Tijuana can help

By Javier De Leon,

Need digital talent? Look 20 minutes south of San Diego.

When your San Diego business needs to expand during one of the toughest battles for digital talent, where do you look? 

Consider Tijuana, Mexico. Our binational region, which includes San Diego County, Imperial County, and the Mexican State of Baja California, is home to more than 7.1 million people – and specializes in high-value goods and services.

San Diego and Tijuana jointly host some of the world’s strongest innovation clusters, including the world’s largest medical device cluster (Trade and Competitiveness in North America, 2018), due in part to significant foreign direct investment from global firms that often co-locate on both sides of the border. Firms like Thermo Fisher Scientific are already leveraging all our binational region has to offer, including specialized production processes and highly-skilled workers. 

Who should consider leveraging cross-border talent?

Companies that are:

  • Considering outsourcing talent outside of San Diego
  • Currently outsourcing talent but looking to build a geographically closer team
  • Cost-conscious but looking to expand
  • Small to mid-sized and struggling to compete in the battle for talent.

can all benefit from leveraging talent in both San Diego and Tijuana.

Why consider cross-border talent? 

Tijuana’s proximity to San Diego makes it a strong strategic choice for talent and business partnership, especially for remote and hybrid teams.

First, compared to working with talent around the world, there can be fewer limitations when your company leverages talent in Tijuana – whether visa-related or otherwise. For regional innovation companies like those in the life sciences cluster, too, the ability to transport samples between San Diego and Tijuana teams is much simpler and quicker than other international options.

And when it comes to culture and oversight, Tijuana is just 20 minutes south of San Diego, allowing management to provide more direct support via easy day trips to Tijuana teams and offices. Because Tijuana is in the same time zone as San Diego, teams can enjoy easier collaboration and culture-building every day – whether or not companies remain remote or consider returning to on-site work. 

Who can help me?

If leveraging Tijuana talent can help your company but you’re not sure where to begin, there are a number of programs and partners that may be able to support or help fund your cross-border talent search.

  • If your company is based in San Diego and looking for general or tech talent, contact World Trade Center San Diego to get started.
  • If your company is based in Tijuana and looking for tech talent, contact ITJuana to get started.
  • If your company is based in Tijuana and looking for general or tech talent, contact Tijuana EDC to get started.

Additional resources:

Interested in growing your business internationally?

World Trade Center San Diego, home of the Export Specialty Small Business Development Center (SBDC), works directly with companies – free of charge – to help them expand internationally and grow in San Diego. Whether your small company is interested in learning about exporting and international growth, or your small or medium-sized company is ready to export and grow internationally, World Trade Center San Diego is here to help.

Ready to export? Apply to MetroConnect VI by November 15.

Want to know more about WTCSD? Click here to receive our monthly Global Brief Newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.

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Meet our Advancing San Diego Preferred Providers of Healthcare Talent

By San Diego Regional EDC,

Meet the Preferred Providers of Healthcare Talent.

Fueled by Tech, Defense, and Life Science industries, San Diego’s innovation economy relies on a pipeline of diverse talent. However, local companies continue to cite access to quality talent as a persistent challenge–98 percent of firms in San Diego are small companies (<100 employees) that often lack time and resources to effectively compete for talent with their larger counterparts. Meanwhile, many San Diegans are disconnected from high-demand job opportunities in Healthcare, largely due to education requirements.

Made possible by JPMorgan Chase, Advancing San Diego is a demand-driven strategy to address talent shortages and remove barriers for small companies to access qualified workers. It is a collaborative effort between EDC, San Diego and Imperial Counties Community College Association, San Diego Workforce Partnership, City of San Diego, and United Way of San Diego.

Over the last six months, Advancing San Diego partners worked with a group of seven employers to develop a skills-based criteria for medical assistants. We asked that any education provider meeting that criteria apply for the Preferred Provider designation. An employer-led review panel then evaluated these applicants against the skills criteria to determine which programs should be designated as ‘Preferred Providers,’ recognized as those most effectively preparing individuals for jobs and internships as medical assistants.

EDC is excited to announce Preferred Providers of Healthcare Talent:

How small companies can get involved:

Advancing San Diego will cover the cost of internships for 30 students, sourced from the above Preferred Provider, at small clinics, doctor’s offices, and other medical facilities in the region. Selected interns will be paid and have access to additional funds to support their success in the workplace. All students from Preferred Provider programs will be invited to participate in industry engagement opportunities such as career fairs and networking events. Healthcare internships will begin in early 2022.

How education programs can get involved:

Advancing San Diego will continue to designate Preferred Providers in a variety of high-demand fields. Preferred Provider criteria and applications are updated and reviewed on an annual basis. The Preferred Provider application schedule is as follows:

  • SOFTWARE: Revisited Spring 2021
  • ENGINEERING: Closed Summer 2020
  • BUSINESS: Closed Winter 2020
  • MANUFACTURING: Closed Spring 2021
  • HEALTHCARE: Closed Summer 2021 (announcement above)
  • LIFE SCIENCES: Upcoming Winter 2021

For more information, visit AdvancingSD.org.

A note from Mark…

By Mark Cafferty,

Beauty in the breaking points

I was always a pretty good athlete as a kid. Good enough to hang with the older kids in my neighborhood. Good enough to make the teams that I wanted to make in high school. Good enough to play at the college level. Good enough. But looking back, I recognize just how much harder it would have been to be truly great at any of it.

These thoughts are top of mind for me every few years when the Olympic Games come back around and I find myself in awe of the world’s most elite athletes. To think of what it takes to be the best in the world at anything is pretty overwhelming. To imagine being able to reach that level within a particular/finite window of time, on the world’s largest stage, with your team and your country watching and counting on you, is almost impossible. And that is what makes it so amazing.

Every two/four years we not only see the world’s greatest athletes compete with one another, we also get to see a reflection of the world around them. And sometimes it isn’t pretty or easy to watch. We have seen athletes use their crowning moments on the podium to call attention to injustice and inequality—and we know that many of them have paid a price both personally and professionally. We have learned of athletes who are under such pressure to win and succeed that they are willing to use performance enhancing drugs to stay on top. We witness horrific injury and heartbreak. And this year, we learned that the pressure of it all can become too much for anyone—even the greatest of all time.

I am not sure that 20 years from now I will remember who won Olympic gold in 2021 in the long jump, or who started on the basketball or soccer teams—but I know I will remember Simone Biles.

So many people around us are carrying more on their shoulders than we will ever realize. The last 18 months have only added to those burdens and made life more complex for all of us.

By stepping away from the sport when she did, and by acknowledging that the pressure being put on our young Olympians in insurmountable moments, Simone Biles has no doubt modeled behavior that will help those who are approaching their own breaking points. And gold medals and floor exercises aside, it is within these actions and convictions where we find true greatness.

When I write these pieces, I normally have some way of wrapping my thoughts into the work of EDC or the state of the local economy around us. But this time I will simply end here—acknowledging and appreciating the vulnerability and humanity that I have witnessed once again in these Olympic Games, and in all of you over the last year and a half, and hoping that you have found meaningful moments of your own in a summer that has gone by far too quickly.

For all EDC news, events and updates, please continue to follow along with us on social media, blog, and more. We remain appreciative and thankful for all of you, and for the support that you continue to provide our team.

Continue to stay healthy and safe and we look forward to seeing you in person in the months ahead.

With respect and gratitude,

Mark Cafferty

Mark Cafferty
Mark Cafferty

President & CEO

Young Professional Spotlight: Alyssa Snow

By Javier De Leon,

Alyssa Snow, a CSU San Marcos and Link to San Diego alumna, is a cybersecurity professional currently working for Teradata. She has participated in two of EDC’s Advancing San Diego industry engagement events in 2021—most recently for a Women in STEM career panel. For Alyssa, participating in these events is meaningful because she remembers how it felt to sit on the opposite end of the room only a few years back, and finding her career path through EDC’s Link to San Diego event.

Read more about Alyssa’s experience below.

How did Link to San Diego launch your career?

In my third year of college at CSU San Marcos in 2018, I attended EDC’s “Link to San Diego: Cybersecurity” career panel and industry engagement event. This event propelled my career in cybersecurity. During the event, one panelist shared what it was like to work as a security engineer, which inspired me to learn more.

I approached the panelist, a representative from Teradata, and asked him how relevant specific projects of mine may be to practical security experience. After the event, I continued to keep in touch with the professional via LinkedIn and email. He sent me various links to resources that introduced security topics that I was interested in learning more about. Eventually, this individual introduced me to a few other employees from Teradata.

I will never forget this day. It meant so much to me that six security professionals took the time to have lunch with me a few weeks after the event and answer some questions regarding what it is like to work in the industry. By the end of the lunch, the Application Security team director asked me for my resume. He informed me that there were no internship opportunities for the security organization at that time, however, he would like to reach out if one were to become available.

Just a month after this lunch, a recruiter reached out to me and asked me if I would like to interview for an open internship position on that very team. I became one of the first-ever interns in the security organization at Teradata. I interned with the Application Security team for a year and a quarter, and was responsible for delivering automated solutions to scale product security across the organization. It was a remarkable experience that gave me direction in my career path.

Where are you now?

I now work at Teradata’s San Diego office as a full-time offensive security engineer. My team and I use adversary perspectives to help Teradata evaluate risks and identify process gaps to help improve the organization’s security posture. I love working in this industry because I am constantly facing new challenges that require creative solutions. I would not have had this experience if I had not attended “Link to San Diego: Cybersecurity” in 2018.

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