Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | APRIL 1, 2024 23 FOCUS | DEI Introducing ManufactureCT Connect, Connecticut's premiere resource and networking conference for the manufacturing industry! We'll have representation from organizations and presentations that can connect you and your business to grants, workforce development opportunities, fi nancing, equipment, exporting and more! Plus, we'll end the day with a fantastic closing reception with keynote speaker Greg Off ner. All Connecticut manufacturing professionals are invited to attend at no charge, so sign up today! Insightful Discussions. Valuable Connections. Endless Opportunities. April 18, 9 a.m.- 6 p.m. Bristol Event Center REGISTER ONLINE AT: manufacturect.org/connect SPONSORED BY children or attended to other family needs, is not the impediment that it once was. "Sometimes it's intimidating, more to the candidate, I feel, than it is to the employer," she said. But some who might have five years or more out of the workforce do face logistical barriers. "They're ready to go. But honestly, sometimes they don't even know where to start," she said. "They've been so out of the networking piece of it that they haven't even gotten to that step of, 'am I confident my resume is ready to even start applying to things?'" Knapp said she has placed one person who had a decade-long gap on her resume. In the trenches of the recruitment industry, she has a detailed view of labor force trends, particularly in the hedge fund, private equity, investment management, financial planning and legal fields she works with most closely. After their busy 2021 and 2022, Knapp said 2023 was a year of retrenchment and even layoffs for many employers, and FoundHer's placements decreased in that period. But so far, 2024 has picked up, with a 200% increase in placements during the first quarter over the same period in 2023. She also observes the trend toward more in-office work in the fields she serves. FoundHer went from almost all hybrid/work-from-home placements in first quarter of 2023, to hybrid/in-office placements by the fourth quarter of 2023 and continuing into the first quarter of this year. It's something she also increasingly sees her clients looking for. "I think the most ideal scenario for both sides is a hybrid arrange- ment," she said. "Candidates were like, 'I can't be home and then do my second job as a mother at home. It's a lot of home time.' So, a lot of candidates were looking to get back [to the office] in a hybrid arrangement." And she and Silver are looking to expand FoundHer from its Fairfield County base, where currently 90% of its placements happen. They're turning their sights toward Hartford. "I think there's just as good a market there in terms of the untapped talent as there is out here in Fairfield County," she said. "So, we'd love to expand into that." Labor force participation rate for women by state RANK STATE LABOR FORCE WOMEN IN THE PARTICIPATION RATE (2022) LABOR FORCE (2022) 1 District of Columbia 66.5% 188,000 2 Nebraska 65.5% 501,000 3 Minnesota 63.9% 1,447,000 4 North Dakota 63.8% 185,000 5 South Dakota 63.6% 219,000 6 Colorado 63.2% 1,476,000 7 Iowa 63.2% 799,000 8 Kansas 61.3% 706,000 9 Vermont 61.3% 169,000 10 Massachusetts 60.9% 1,800,000 14 Connecticut 60.6% 918,000 Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

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