Partnership, Tallo Work to Strengthen DSM Talent Pipeline

It was just over one year ago that the Greater Des Moines Partnership announced its licensure of Tallo, a virtual recruitment platform, for use across the state of Iowa. At the time, Tallo’s platform, built to connect talent seekers to higher education institutions and regional businesses, was not widely utilized by the business community but had built a small base of student users, nearly 4,000 statewide.

The 2020 academic year following the official launch of The Partnership’s relationship with Tallo was anything but typical. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, districts quickly moved to virtual and hybrid formats. The absence of students in physical classroom spaces presented challenges to advertising the platform but also provided new opportunities for connecting with students virtually. The Partnership pivoted to leverage existing relationships with regional school districts and administrators as well as educational associations to begin conversations about what Tallo is and the benefits it brings to the region.

Tallo in 2021

The Partnership has been working on ways to leverage Tallo as a talent recruitment and retention tool to bolster the regional talent pipeline by connecting Iowa educational institutions and Greater Des Moines (DSM) businesses. Now, just over one year later, Tallo has more than 11,000 Iowa students using the site. Seventy-one percent of those users are high school students, 22% are college aged students and the remaining 7% are young professionals seeking employment opportunities in the state.

DSM USA Career Exploration Event

As part of The Partnership’s ongoing initiatives to connect talent seekers to regional businesses, the DSM USA Career Exploration Event was developed in collaboration with Tallo. Held on Thursday, April 15, the Career Exploration Event was targeted to regional middle and high school aged students and educators to introduce students to Iowa’s primary industry sectors and career opportunities in DSM. This pilot event featured regional businesses within featured businesses within six Iowa industries; technology, finance/insurance, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, logistics and construction. Throughout the six-hour event, participating companies held 30-minute presentations on careers within their respective organization, potential education pathways and the anticipated changes to their career fields in the coming years.

As The Partnership’s relationship with Tallo continues to grow, we look forward to the continued development of talent seekers using the platform, and we are excited to welcome more educational institutions and businesses onto the site to access local talent pipelines.

Job opportunities and career resources are abundant in Greater Des Moines (DSM). Whether you're looking to find an internship, a job, develop professionally or grow as a student, we have the resources to help you thrive.