Recruiting and Retaining Talent

Indy Chamber News Archives

The Indy Chamber’s targeted approach to technology-driven economic development includes building a strategic framework to grow the Indy region. As part of the strategic framework, we have identified a need for educated and talented workers.

TechPoint is making large strides in developing Indy’s workforce through its dedication to recruiting and educating tech workers.

TechPoint, The growth initiative for Indiana’s tech ecosystem, is focused on growing the tech-skilled workforce, connecting and amplifying the tech community, and accelerating emerging tech companies. To help reach these goals, TechPoint has launched several programs to build Indy’s talent pipeline.

“Indy has seen a lot of growth in the technology community. Companies like Appirio, Emarsys and Geofeedia have moved here, and venture capital firms are increasing investment here, but to continue to fuel that growth, we needed to grow the talent pipeline,” said Mike Langellier, CEO of TechPoint.

One of TechPoint’s college-to-career talent programs aimed at students, is called Xtern and has been widely successful in retaining talent in Indy. Dubbed the “Ultimate Tech Internship,” Xtern is a 10-week tech internship experience for high caliber tech-skilled college students. Prior to participating in Xtern, 12 percent of the students  reported that they were likely to choose a career in Indy. After completing the Xtern program, 78% said they were likely to choose a career in Indy after graduation. 131 college students from all over the U.S. participated in Xtern this year.

“Xtern helps its participants by teaching them valuable social and professional skills they couldn’t learn anywhere else, building important connections that would be out of reach otherwise, forging long-lasting relationships, and giving us the power to apply our knowledge and creativity to have a positive impact on the community,” says Ben Wencke, an Xtern graduate.

For tech-skilled new grads, the IndyX Tech Fellowship is a two-year launchpad crafted to place developers, designers and product managers with companies for full-time careers while immersing them in our community and accelerating their skills development. Thanks to the newly launched program, the 21 Tech Fellows are placed on a fast track to contribute to the tech scene in Indy and ultimately choose Indy for the long-term.. For new grads who are not tech skilled and people looking for a career change, Sales Bootcamp is a six-week program that offers participants the opportunity to work with fast-paced technology companies that train them to become successful salespeople.

While Indy’s technology community continues to scale, much of the growth has occurred over the last few years. There are talented individuals who graduated from Hoosier universities but left the state to work in a tech hub elsewhere. For those who left Indiana but want to move back, TechPoint’s Talent Network connects out-of-towners to hiring technology companies.. TechPoint also offers a job board with more than 25 new postings a week for those looking for jobs in tech or tech jobs in Indiana.

To learn more about TechPoint, please visit techpoint.org.