Luke Ebersold | Blum, Shapiro & Co. PC Rhode Island managing partner
Even though I’ve spent the last several years living and working in Connecticut, Rhode Island has always felt like home.
My wife and I bought a house near the beach nearly a decade ago. Both of my children fell in love with the state, too, and are now students at Roger Williams University.
And thanks to the opportunity to serve as managing partner for blumshapiro’s Rhode Island office, we’ve finally made the leap to live here full time.
Here’s my first take as an “official” Rhode Islander: It’s easier to find and train talent here than in any other state I’ve worked.
Earlier this year, we joined the Rhode Island Society of Certified Public Accountants to partner with the R.I. Department of Labor and Training’s Real Jobs Rhode Island program to create the Accounting and Financial Collaborative, an initiative that is helping local college students gain the experience and often-forgotten “soft skills” they will need to enter the workforce immediately after graduating.
This initiative has been effective. Perhaps more importantly, it couldn’t have been easier to get it off the ground.
As an industry, we presented our challenge and proposed a solution. Just a few weeks later, we secured the funding we needed to make it happen.
Finding the right employees is one of the more difficult, time-consuming and occasionally frustrating hurdles every business needs to navigate. State leaders seem to understand this challenge, and they’ve taken impressive steps to help businesses address it.
The resources are there, and they work. It’s up to us to use them.
