Recap: Triangle Talent Forum

The Triangle region is growing at a rapid rate with young professionals, startups, entrepreneurs, and companies of all sizes, which means there is a growing need to support incoming talent. This year’s Triangle Talent: The Workforce of Tomorrow focused on the changing needs of the talent pipeline and how to recruit talent outside of the norm.

Rob Humphrey, a key account executive with LinkedIn, was the keynote speaker for the forum. His presentation focused in on how to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. Humphrey presented statistics on the skills that are behind the talent being hired in Raleigh, such as cloud computing, AI, people management, video production, and sales leadership.

He stated, “57 percent of leaders say that they are more interested in soft skills than hard skills.” As the region is building a modern talent pipeline, we need to consider statistics like this.

Following Humphrey’s presentation, Gary Greene, CEO of Greene Resources, primed the audience with hiring ideas used by the best and brightest Fortune 500 companies as a way to snag top talent.

He then moderated a group of panelists from various positions in the workforce. One panelist will soon be entering the workforce. Another shared her experience of re-entering the workforce. Panelists were:

• Lindsay Tarabocchia, assistant vice president, Channel Management, Credit Suisse
• Kimarie Ankenbrand, managing director, JLL
• Jannaeé Sick, front end developer, MedThink Communications
• Briana Landis, student, Meredith College, Class of 2019

 The panelists revealed the challenges they had faced in their career.

Jannaeé Sick shared her battle with re-entering the workforce after raising a child. She also revealed to combat the “gap” left in her resume, she had to adapt to the new skills the workforce demanded by learning how to code and networking.

Lindsay Tarabocchia said it’s not just job seekers who need to be networking and reaching outside of their comfort zone. Companies need to do so, as well. “Employers need to get uncomfortable and realize that what we did 20 years ago doesn’t apply to today,” she said.

Briana Landis shared her perspective on finding the right fit when choosing a company. Landis stated that it was important to her for potential companies to have a flexible schedule and maternity plan when planning her future.

You can read the full recap blog of the Triangle Talent Forum here. If you have questions about the event or our talent initiative, you can submit a question here.