Just this morning, a co-worker reminisced about the first time she met my oldest daughter, Frances. She recalled two-year-old Frances walking into the Gerhard’s Kitchen & Bath Store she manages one Saturday morning with me exclaiming, “Mommy, your work is so beautiful! I love it here!”

And so recruiting for “Project Talent” begins at First Supply as even the sixth generation of our family is startled to learn about our beautiful and amazing industry.

Whether we are manufacturers, reps, distributors or contractors, our industry has quietly been performing essential work for centuries. Hundreds of thousands of people every year find our businesses and build fulfilling and engaging careers providing purpose and prosperity to families across the country. How do we double down on bringing the best people to the best companies in the best industry?

Now, in this moment, in our moment, we can catapult our industry, our businesses, and our people into the future with Project Talent, one of the American Supply Association’s core initiatives.

ASA has led the way on attracting, recruiting and retaining people to the industry for its entire history. Over the past number of years, this effort has ramped up as we all seek to fill key roles at our businesses with the best talent possible. Project Talent has been a topic at many industry events, conferences, and meetings for years. In fact, it will be on the agenda at Network2023 November 8-10 in Orlando (early bird pricing ends July 11! https://www.asa.net/Meetings-Events/NETWORK2023).

Steve Edwards is leading the charge at ASA and has conducted a number of webinars on recruiting best practices including how to position your company’s website to attract job seekers and navigating the nuances of the Indeed job platform. Both webinars are recorded and available to members who would like more information. Please contact ASA at info@asa.net.

ASA has developed tools including launching SupplyIndustryCareers.com and the Recruiter Toolbox. SupplyIndustryCareers.com is a one-stop site for job seekers to learn more about the industry and search jobs all over the country. An FAQ section was added on the ASA website including an overview of what the platform is all about and access to the Recruiter Toolbox - https://www.asa.net/Education/Career-Resources.

The future of our industry is people. It’s each of us advocating on behalf of our businesses and each other to make our industry a place people seek to be and to build a career. It’s our outreach on social media and even more in our communities. It’s being employers of choice and excellence.

It’s building beautiful work to love for generations to come.