Help with New Research for Recruiting and Retaining Iowa's Young Professionals

Last year, the governor and the Legislature approved and funded the Generation Iowa Commission in an effort to  tackle the issue of post college-age individuals leaving the state. The commission was charged with studying why they were leaving, the impact on the state of Iowa and what could be done to reverse that trend. The commission concluded the top five factors young professionals use in determining where they will work:

1. High paying job and low cost of living
2. A place compatible with their skill set and growth of those skills
3. Quality of life, vitality, uniqueness and diversity of community
4. Geography and ease of travel
5. Career advancement and leadership

Research had indicated that the first two factors far outweighed the other factors, which are more properly considered “tiebreakers" and that emphasis on the bottom three factors should always be in conjunction with the first two.

Based on those factors, and general research on generational behavior, the commission recommended that businesses should engage in the following strategies to assist in recruiting and retaining young professionals:

1. Be community focused and engaging
   
2. Emphasize both an internship program and a mentoring program
3. Utilize the relationships of employees that are alumnus to key educational institutions that provide the types of employees the company needs
   
4. Continue to find ways to focus on total compensation packages that add additional value to salaries, particularly for critical needs areas, as well as offer clear and flexible career pathways

The commission is now beginning its second year and is actively collecting data to be used to develop an updated report. The report will include new findings and recommendations of the commission regarding the status of efforts to attract and retain the young adult population in the state, career opportunities and educational needs of young adults, and the movement of the young adult population between rural areas and urban areas and between Iowa and other states. They are encouraging young post college-age Iowans to complete the survey here.

This primary research should serve well to compare to their research from last year. It will be interesting to see if the data matches well with past research or national data and it should be interesting to see if it will change the or magnify the recommendations from the commission. A report is expected at the end of the year.