Michael Cinquino and Rebecca Lee. (Courtesy of SoHo Creative Studio.)
The competition for talent is still fierce, so a collective of Seacoast businesses hired a Portsmouth creative agency led by a couple of transplanted New Yorkers to create a tool kit to help companies in the region become employee magnets.
In December 2022, the Seacoast Economic Development Stakeholders (SEDS)—a collective from Strafford and Rockingham counties who meet regularly to collaborate, share information and resources—hired SoHo Creative Studio, a creative agency in Portsmouth, for a project to help Seacoast business owners attract, develop and retain employees.
Michael Cinquino, co-founder and artistic director of SoHo Creative Studio, says retaining and hiring employees is about telling stories, and for six months, SoHo interviewed UNH students, asking them what business owners can do to attract and hold onto talent, as well as local and regional business owners about their own approaches, and job seekers about their challenges in the job market.
“Most of the time jobs are posted as lists: ‘You need to have two years of experience; you need to have this or that.’ It’s basically just a list of qualifications. But there’s nothing there that pertains to who you are as a company. What do you value? What’s the culture like? Who are the owners? What do they value?” he says.
In July, SoHo and the SEDS launched its Employer Toolkit, rolling it out in bite-sized segments designed over three months, with the full toolkit available in the fall.
Videos include an interview with Barbara Marchetti, a consultant with the Leddy Group in Dover about “How to Attract, Develop and Retain Talent.” Another video features Bill Stowell Jr. of Central Park Garage and Central Park Express in Somersworth focused on how implementing employee benefits helped him to attract high-quality hires. Another features Kimiko Ebata, career coach and transition expert at Ki Coaching, at how companies can differentiate themselves in acompetitive market.
“It was surprising to us how many things a business owner can do beyond offering competitive wages and good benefits,” Cinquino says.
It is the latest endeavor from SoHo, which was launched in 2020 during the early days of the pandemic by Cinquino, a U.S. Navy veteran who holds a B.A. in acting and directing from DeSales University; Rebecca Lee, a textile designer with experience in digital products and interior planning who is SoHo’s creative director; and Taylor Lhamon, who serves as SoHo’s narrative strategist and writer. Cinquino and Lee moved to Portsmouth from New York City during the height of the pandemic.
Each of the weekly video segments is available on SRPC’s Facebook and LinkedIn pages. To see SoHo’s toolkit visit sohocreativestudio.com/employer-toolkit.
Current Issue - May 2024