The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership Launches First-Ever Podcast: Hire Frequency

Podcast features informative, humorous conversations with regional business and community leaders about workforce development, local economic imperatives, and their own personal and professional journeys

(CHICAGO)– The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership (The Partnership) announces the debut of its new podcast Hire Frequency. Host, Karin M. Norington-Reaves, The Partnership’s CEO, taps into the universal importance of workforce development as the driver of economic empowerment. Regional business and community leaders, elected officials, and economic development stakeholders join Norington-Reaves for conversations that range from discussing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to hopes for revitalizing Chicagoland’s economy to spontaneous, laugh-out-loud moments.

There are currently seven Hire Frequency episodes available, including:

Episode 7 (Just released)—Show Up. Do Hard Things. Don’t Give Up: A Conversation with Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle—The conversation covers serious topics such as the pandemic and economic recovery, the importance of work and career path development for young adults, and humorous, unexpected anecdotes from the leader of the second-largest county in the nation. Hear about President Preckwinkle’s first job and what her 6-year-old self wanted to be when she grew up.

Episodes 5 and 6: DISCOVERing–Discover Financial Services senior leadership discusses how the company partnered with Chicago’s Chatham community by opening a new customer care center, bringing nearly 1,000 jobs to the area. This episode gives a firsthand account of how the company revitalized existing, vacant real estate, offered career opportunities with every hire, and partnered with neighborhood businesses and organizations to boost the local economy.

Episodes 3 and 4 Hospitality “Re” Hires Chicago—Regional Hospitality Industry leaders (Chicago’s Hospitality Heavy Hitters) discuss the devastation the pandemic had on this sector and the changes in the industry as it recovers in new and unexpected ways. Business owners and their dedicated, much-loved workforce showed the grit and determination needed to “pivot” and survive during this challenging time.  Hotels, used to operating 24 hours a day, had to have their doors “ziptied” closed and restaurants learned to rely solely on on-line orders and “take out” service. In the hospitality industry, employees aren’t solely colleagues, they are members of the family. Hear the personal stories of how this sector survived directly from its industry leaders.

Episodes 1 and 2 Women at Work: Not Your Mother’s Workforce—A touching and revealing multi-generational discussion by four Black women of different generations (mothers and daughters) discussing their professional and academic experiences over several decades. Listeners will hear about women balancing work and family demands while striving to build successful careers in the face of gender and racial discrimination.

“Our goal is to employ, empower, and elevate our listeners,” said Norington-Reaves. “My job affords me the opportunity to meet with and learn from local and national community and industry leaders. I spend a lot of time telling people what the experts say because I often wish more people could hear these conversations and learn from them. Now, they can!  Hire Frequency offers everyone the chance to hear these insightful discussions firsthand.”

Hire Frequency is produced in collaboration with Workforce180, which supports workforce development organizations through workshops, keynotes, podcasts, and more. Hire Frequency is available wherever podcasts are accessed.