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Effort aims to draw young professionals here

Business groups, airport and area colleges join in marketing push emphasizing region's good side

By Chris Churchill, Albany Times Union

March 21, 2008

COLONIE -- Calling all young professionals. The Capital Region needs you.

That's the message of a marketing campaign launched Wednesday by two chambers of commerce and backed by Albany International Airport and many of the area's colleges and universities.

The airport will support the effort, dubbed Discover Tech Valley , Rediscover Home, with a terminal kiosk and display advertisements, while the schools are expected to provide free advertising in alumni publications.

Charles Steiner, president of The Chamber of Schenectady County, which launched the effort with the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the campaign is a response to complaints from business leaders who say they struggle to find the professional help they need.

The Schenectady and Albany-Colonie chambers already cooperate on the GenNext Council, a young professional recruitment and retention group, whose members will be aiding the new campaign.

The effort is aimed at folks who either were raised or went to college here but left for jobs elsewhere. The theory is that many -- especially those with family in the area -- would return to the Capital Region if they believed they could build a career here.

Concern about the so-called "brain drain" of young professionals is not new in the Capital Region, upstate New York or in much of the rest of the Northeast. Policymakers have long worried they are losing their best and brightest to cities like New York , Boston and Los Angeles , or to fast-growing Sunbelt states.

Whether a marketing campaign can effectively address the issue is an open question.

Research by economist Richard Florida and others suggests young professionals want to live in a place they see as diverse, lively and dynamic and don't typically make economic concerns their first priority.

Adding to frustration here, officials said Wednesday, is that the Capital Region is a steady producer and supplier of young professional talent, with universities that turn out thousands of highly trained graduates each year.

Jeanne Neff, president of The Sage Colleges in Troy , said even higher education institutions here are harmed by the shortage of young professionals. She said the colleges and universities were backing the effort in part because they, too, are employers needing to attract talent.

The campaign includes updating an existing chamber-sponsored Web site, http://www.tech valley.org, to address potential needs and concerns of young professionals.

The chambers say the Web site helps link those willing to relocate with companies looking to hire.

Among the schools participating in the effort are Sage, The College of Saint Rose, Hudson Valley Community College, Schenectady County Community College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Siena College , Union College and the University at Albany .

Chris Churchill can be reached at 454-5442 or by e-mail at cchurchill@timesunion.com.