Why HiringBridge Started?

Years ago, Mike Hagan’s son and his closest friend decided they wanted to stay in Sarasota. They were both graduating in 5 months, one an engineer from Purdue and one in finance from FSU. They both needed help locally in finding career positions, not internships or hourly roles. Through Mike’s local network, he was able to shop their resume and find them roles. After two years, they are still with the same company, had several promotions and raises. Both were employed by locals in small companies.

Since then, other kids or parents of new grads were experiencing the same issue. How do I find a career job in a city with only a handful of large employers outside the government and health? Pete Petersen, a Sarasota entrepreneur, and Destin Wells of Sarasota Economic Development Council came up with an idea of creating a “go to” place for both candidates looking for jobs and Employers. HiringBridge was born and created out of these discussions.

Our goal is to identify quality local young job seeking candidates, ask them to adapt to our process (which is more than just sending a resume and then hoping for the best), match them with a local mentor, and then entice companies to hire them. We help qualify the talent for Employers, and they benefit by hiring local, saving money and short cutting their recruiting process and timeline. We proved it worked for Mike’s son and his buddy!