Green Bay chosen for National Talent Accelerator program

GREEN BAY – In the upcoming weeks, the City of Green Bay will be participating in the Talent Accelerator course, created by Work for America, an organization that aids local governments struggling from the government staffing crisis.

This free program focuses on helping cities improve their hiring processes.
After completing an application, Green Bay was chosen alongside 11 other cities across the nation, from “New York City to Kansas City to Knoxville to Green Bay to Norfolk, Virginia, so some pretty impressively large cities compared to Green Bay,” said Brian Rollefson, human resources director for the City of Green Bay. “From a population base, we are the smallest one in the program.”

Through a series of virtual meetings, Work For America will teach and help the cities improve their hiring process.

“What the program really looks into is our hiring process from when we are trying to get the position internally approved all the way until a candidate accepts the position,” explained Rollefson.

Work for America will provide the cities with feedback, and the cities can also work with each other.

At the end, “it looks at all of those steps and creates a process map for us on each of the steps,” said Rollefson.

This endeavor will be led by the human resources department in the City of Green Bay, which Rollefson is the director of.

The public works department is also being included in the process.

“The program asks us to pick a department that we’ll pilot this with… and that department is our public works department,” Rollefson said.

The city’s goal is to streamline their hiring process and find the best candidates for open positions.

“Right now, it takes about 40 to 60 days to fill a position,” said Rollefson. “We’re hoping to learn from their processes and come out with the best product for Green Bay.”

This program started on Tuesday, April 21 and will continue for eight weeks.
More information about Work for America and the program can be found at workforamerica.org.

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