Hire Locally

The Hire Locally Guide is a resource to support practices and strategies that promote community wealth building and local economic development through the hiring process. By prioritizing local hiring and focusing on groups with additional barriers to employment, community members within the project area can receive additional benefits from project implementation. Local hiring also allows community members to bring their knowledge and expertise, ensures tax dollars are going back and reinvested in the community, and supports networks and programs that provide local opportunities. 

The Hire Locally Guide includes step-by-step strategies to support you and your team to engage in hiring from within your local community. This guide includes a process to assess your project and local workforce needs and then align tangible project work with individuals and community members who can benefit from job access and opportunities. In addition, the guide includes links to resources, descriptions of strategies, reference sheets, and worksheet activities to support a thorough and intentional approach to hiring. 

If you are an awardee, please contact your cohort facilitator for additional support. 

CONTENTS

Step 1 – Understand Staffing Positions

Step 2 – Assess Staffing Needs & Budget

Step 3 – Develop Job Descriptions

Step 4 – Identify and Understand Your Target Hiring Group

Step 5 – Considerations Before Hiring

Step 6 – Hire Locally

Step 7 – Market Job Postings

Step 8 – Strategies to Support New Staff

Step 9 – Move to the Next Guide in the Toolkit – Engage the Community

Consideration

DOWNLOAD THE FULL GUIDE

Step 1

Understand Staffing Positions

Estimated Time and Resources
Reading Time: 5 Minutes
Resources Required For the Worksheet: N/A
Download This Step

About This Step

Every mobility project has staffing needs that fall into four main categories: project management and administration; community outreach, engagement, and marketing; site construction, installation, and maintenance; and mobility service operations. 

Understand the types of positions needed for a mobility project and how staffing changes for each project stage.

TIP: It is recommended to look for local construction/electrician unions that are close to your project area. They will have greater familiarity with municipal requirements and regulations, understand local weather patterns, and other local construction issues. Please see some of the resources listed below to get started on finding a local group or a specific contractor in your region.

Step 2

Assess Staffing Needs & Budget

Estimated Time and Resources
Reading Time: 5 Minutes
Resources Required For the Worksheet: Mobility Project Team, Project Budget, Laptop, Excel / Google Sheets
Download This Step

About This Step

Assess your mobility project’s staffing needs and budget to begin developing a hiring plan.

TIP: Download the worksheet to  identify which positions need to be filled, if positions can be filled by regular staff or contractors, how many hours are needed, their wage, and at what point they will be needed in your mobility project.

Download The Worksheet

Step 3

Develop Job Descriptions

Estimated Time and Resources
Reading Time: 5 Minutes
Resources Required For the Worksheet: N/A
Download This Step

About This Step

A well-written job description is key to getting quality applicants who understand what they are applying to and the level of commitment needed for the position. Learn about some of the key components that you may want to include. 

TIP: For CMO awardees – your project is funded by Clean Mobility Options (CMO) and the California Climate Investments (CCI), and so you can include the CMO and CCI logos and descriptive text in your job description and posts.

Step 4

Identify and Understand Your Target Hiring Group

Estimated Time and Resources
Reading Time: 5 Minutes
Resources Required For the Worksheet: Mobility Project Team, Project Budget, Laptop, Whiteboard/Blackboard
Download This Step

About This Step

It is important to identify and understand your target hiring group. Tap into existing resources and data to understand your community’s demographics, labor force, local industries, education, commute patterns, and more. 

TIP: Download the worksheet to create a clear and common definition of community amongst your mobility project team. 

Download The Worksheet

Step 5

Considerations Before Hiring

Estimated Time and Resources
Reading Time: 5 Minutes
Resources Required For the Worksheet: N/A
Download This Step

About This Step

When working with certain target populations, partner with a local CBO or nonprofit that has experience partnering with this community. 

TIP: See the list of questions to help you consider potential target populations.

Step 6

Hire Locally

Estimated Time and Resources
Reading Time: 5 Minutes
Resources Required For the Worksheet: N/A
Download This Step

About This Step

Learn about the different ways to hire staff from the local community such as first source hiring, targeted hiring, youth workforce development, community benefit agreements, and labor agreements or community workforce provisions. 

TIP: Tap into local CBOs, affordable housing sites, and employment centers, and local government and workforce agencies near the project area to market positions and hire for positions. 

Step 7

Market Job Postings

Estimated Time and Resources
Reading Time: 5 Minutes
Resources Required For the Worksheet: N/A
Download This Step

About This Step

Learn about effective strategies to market job postings to community members and potential applicants.

TIP: While many communications have transitioned to online platforms, to be inclusive and reach potential candidates who are not as active online, you may want to include some on-the-ground, in-person marketing strategies.

Step 8

Review Strategies to Support New Staff

Estimated Time and Resources
Reading Time: 5 Minutes
Resources Required For the Worksheet: N/A
Download This Step

About This Step

Learn about how best to provide ongoing support to help train your workers for their job and get their feedback to improve your project and mobility service. 

Step 9

Move to the Next Guide in the Toolkit

Estimated Time and Resources
Reading Time: 1 minute
Resources Required For the Worksheet: N/A

About This Step

Congratulations on building your dream team for your mobility project! The next guide in the Toolkit is the Engage the Community guide. Use this guide to get ideas on how to bring the community into decision-making.

Considerations

It’s important to note that the process for local hiring is dynamic and highly dependent on the specific community and project. Therefore, the exact hiring process needed for your project will be unique to your community and may depend on other factors not considered in this guide. 

Reference to any specific manufacture, trade, company name or service is for informational purposes only, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the California Air Resources Board.

We Are Here to Help

There are multiple ways to contact us!

LEARN MORE
Twitter

Copyright – 2022 | CALSTART | All Rights Reserved