Eau Claire’s economic development administrator Mike Schatz gave us an inside look at how the city attracts employers and boosts the local job market.

Play Up Natural Advantages

We try to recruit industry that makes sense for the advantages we have in raw materials and natural resources: lots of food products and agricultural land. (Silver Spring is one such success.) We have lots of plastic companies and computer product companies. … We want to create a connection with the type of workers already here. We try to document our great location on I-94 for businesses’ transportation needs, and the fact that our city is highly connected through fiber optics.

Diversify

We also recruit to diversify so that we’re not linked to one single industry like we used to be with rubber. We like to keep the recruitment focused but not so narrow that we might miss different opportunities.

“People can choose where they live now, not just follow big companies. And our area meets the requirements of intelligent and skilled people.”

Roll With The Times

I’ve been in Economic Development for over 30 years, and the expansion opportunities you see now are much less, especially in manufacturing. Our big competitor now is overseas. We might want to start going toward service-related industries or entrepreneurship.

Focus On Quality Of Life

People can choose where they live now, not just follow big companies. And our area meets the requirements of intelligent and skilled people.
Take Education Into Account We look at programs that the UW-Eau Claire or Chippewa Valley Technical College might have, like material science programs. We have a ready supply of labor because we’re a university town with fresh graduates every year.

Market For A Specific Building

We might be doing a marketing campaign for a certain building, like the vacant 3M building in the Gateway Industrial Park. It’s 200,000 square feet, so we’re looking for more of a high tech computer related company – maybe chip design or a manufacturer of circuit boards or medical devices, using infrastructure that’s already in place.

Tailor The Fit

If they have intensive labor costs, we highlight the cost-saving aspect of the area because we have lower labor costs. One company wanted a place in Sky Park but they needed a lot of outside storage, so it wasn’t a good fit and we tried to find a different location for them.

Target Free Agents As Well As Companies

We can show them that they can do well here through our website and brochures. We have a user friendly site (www.eauclairedevelopment.com) that documents the basics, but one of the drawbacks is that you don’t know they’re looking.