What Comes First, Talent or Business?

ByLaura Ziegler

October 23, 2018

OpTech’s President and CEO, Ronia Kruse was recently featured in the Detroiter Magazine, alongside other industry experts. The article posed a question to each visionary about the role talent played on Detroit’s failed bid to host Amazon’s second world headquarters. Amazon cited several reasons why Detroit was not a contender, but the main reason was that our city lacks existing talent. So the question is this: What comes first, talent or business?

Ronia said the following:

“Certainly some talent follows companies but more often, companies will follow talent. In fact, studies by renowned economists have proven this theory. The unemployment rate is under 4%, which is extremely low; IT and Engineering positions are below 2%. Clearly the talent pool in the U.S. is in a crisis. Michigan has some of the finest universities in the country but is being challenged with retaining talent in Michigan, as it is losing about 36% of its students to other states. Michigan is making strides to change this paradigm via the Marshall Plan for Talent and ChooseMichigan.org initiative – programs that are building talent pipelines, retaining students and upskilling talent.”

Read the Detroiter Article Now

By Laura Ziegler

With over 20 years of experience, Laura Ziegler is a dynamic leader in the talent and workforce solutions industry. As Vice President of Marketing at OpTech, Laura drives strategic marketing initiatives that enhance brand awareness, client engagement, and candidate attraction. Laura is passionate about the power of storytelling and thought leadership, and is dedicated to elevating OpTech’s presence in the industry while fostering connections that support both clients and candidates in achieving their goals. Laura volunteers her time as the Chair for Inforum’s TechnologyNEXT committee. She holds a Masters of Business Administration from Walsh College.

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