The St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce last week launched a talent recruitment program.

According to Chamber Director of Communications and Marketing Kristi Bailey, the initiative, called Uncommon Life, is geared toward prospective employees and residents of St. Joseph with information on schools, housing and more.

“We’ve been working with human resources departments at some of our companies and we found they really needed some more tools to be able to recruit people to live and work in St. Joseph,” Bailey said. “So we developed a couple of websites that will help with that endeavor, plus we have developed some tours and some events that will help people when they are thinking about moving to St. Joseph and… for people to know St. Joseph once they move here.”

According to the Missouri Chamber Workforce 2030 plan, nationwide, there are 75 million Baby Boomers, with 10,000 of those hitting retirement age every day for the next 11 years. According to a press release from the St. Joseph Chamber, this is a huge concern for employers in St. Joseph. The Chamber adds that communities that invest in strategic workforce development and retention initiatives will win the job war, and it wants St. Joseph to be one of those places.

“Business success is largely driven by the quality of its employees,” said R. Patt Lilly, President and CEO of the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce. “Local companies often tell us they have a difficult time filling positions with qualified candidates because they’ve never heard of St. Joseph, or don’t know what the city has to offer. The new talent recruitment program gives business leaders the tools they need to recruit employees and new residents to St. Joseph.”

The website is uncommonlife.saintjoseph.com.