Over the last six years, Louisiana has attracted about $62 billion in new investment as companies from a range of sectors have committed to expand or locate in the Bayou State.
As detailed in a feature from the spring issue of 10/12 Industry Report, tax breaks and incentives have played a key part, but the silver bullet in Louisiana’s success in the site selection wars, admit many company leaders, is Louisiana Economic Development’s workforce training program, LED FastStart.
Launched in 2008, FastStart has been named the country’s top workforce training program by Business Facilities magazine for the last five years and has been lauded by Forbes and The Economist for its innovative approach. It’s also got a stockpile of positive testimonials from corporate CEOs, who routinely express surprise at the level of quality and the customized approach that FastStart delivers. Founding Executive Director Jeff Lynn says the program has separated itself from competitors by thinking like the private sector.
“We are state government, but we run like a business,” Lynn says. “The folks we’ve hired to work at FastStart have come from business and industry. They understand what an expanding company or a startup needs in the way of hiring and training. They also understand the pressure a business is under. If a company we’re working with is putting in 15-hour days, then we are, too.”
Operating from the City Plaza building in downtown Baton Rouge, FastStart has developed a reputation for creating custom, and often high-tech, recruitment and training products for companies that agree to bring more jobs to Louisiana. These products range from 3D animated training videos that give step-by-step instructions to new hires to targeted recruitment campaigns on social media that get the word out about new jobs in Louisiana’s expanding knowledge economy. FastStart’s tailor-made approach has helped the state attract global companies that might have gone elsewhere, Lynn says.
“Finding the right people to fill jobs, and getting them ready by day one is a huge priority for a new company,” says Lynn. “We can remove that uncertainty. Taking it out of the equation has really made a difference.”
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