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OKC’s Hidden Hiring Boom and Fast-Track Career Moves · The 405 Payroll

• 0:14
  Wait, so...
• 0:15
  you're telling me you spent three hours last night updating your resume just to send
• 0:21
  it into another online portal?
• 0:23
  I...
• 0:24
  look, I was testing something!
• 0:27
  A friend of mine has been applying for customer service jobs online for like...
• 0:31
  two months now, and she's gotten literally zero replies.
• 0:36
  Total void.
• 0:38
  Yeah.
• 0:38
  Because it is a black hole.
• 0:41
  It's, it's...
• 0:41
  you throw your application into the internet ether and hope a bot reads it.
• 0:47
  Meanwhile, renters making fifteen to eighteen bucks an hour are sitting there
• 0:51
  thinking, where are all these supposed new jobs everyone keeps talking about?
• 0:56
  Well, that's the wild part, right?
• 0:59
  Because if you look at the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber's economic outlook,
• 1:03
  the numbers tell a completely different story.
• 1:07
  They tracked one hundred and thirteen expanding companies bringing in over thirty
• 1:12
  four hundred new jobs.
• 1:14
  And get this...
• 1:15
  the average annual salary for those roles is around sixty thousand seven hundred
• 1:20
  dollars.
• 1:21
  Sixty grand?
• 1:23
  Okay, wait, wait.
• 1:24
  If there are thirty four hundred jobs paying sixty thousand a year,
• 1:28
  why are public online job listings totally flat in OKC?
• 1:32
  Nationally job postings went up like eight percent, but here?
• 1:37
  Nothing.
• 1:38
  Flatline.
• 1:39
  Because it's a stealth hiring market!
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  They aren't posting those entry level or technical roles on traditional job boards
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  where ten thousand people submit AI generated cover letters.
• 1:51
  The report shows there are one hundred and twenty one active prospects looking to
• 1:55
  relocate or expand in the OKC metro area right now.
• 2:00
  One hundred and twenty one?
• 2:03
  Yeah!
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  And seventy percent of those companies are in advanced manufacturing and aerospace.
• 2:09
  They're setting up shop along the major industrial corridors,
• 2:12
  like out on Interstate forty West or up the Meridian corridor.
• 2:16
  So...
• 2:17
  so they're recruit...
• 2:19
  they're recruiting directly.
• 2:21
  They aren't waiting around for Indeed algorithms to match them with candidates.
• 2:26
  Precisely!
• 2:27
  They use direct hire events and state agencies.
• 2:31
  Like, if you're stuck in that fifteen dollar an hour cycle,
• 2:34
  screaming at your laptop screen because nobody responds to your application,
• 2:39
  you're looking in the wrong place.
• 2:41
  You have to go where the recruiters actually stand in a room.
• 2:45
  Right, like the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission hiring events.
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  OESC has a big Oklahoma City Job Fair coming up on September fourteenth,
• 2:54
  ten in the morning to one in the afternoon.
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  You walk in, hand someone a paper resume, look 'em in the eye,
• 3:00
  and you skip three rounds of automated rejection emails.
• 3:04
  Exactly.
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  You're bridging that gap between the entry level wage floor and those sixty thousand
• 3:10
  dollar industrial jobs just by showing up in person.
• 3:14
  Okay, but...
• 3:15
  um, let's be realistic for a second.
• 3:18
  If someone is working a sixteen dollar an hour job right now,
• 3:21
  they can't just magically walk up to an aerospace manufacturer and say,
• 3:25
  hey, hire me for sixty grand, I know how to calibrate a robotic assembly arm.
• 3:30
  No, totally.
• 3:31
  But the bridge to get from sixteen an hour to twenty four plus an hour is way
• 3:36
  shorter than people realize.
• 3:37
  You don't need a four year degree.
• 3:39
  Places like the Francis Tuttle Technology Center, specifically their Reno Campus,
• 3:44
  offer short term career training programs.
• 3:46
  Wait, like what kind of programs?
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  Things like mechatronics, advanced manufacturing, and robotic systems.
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  We're talking hands on, practical certifications that take months instead of years.
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  And the kicker?
• 4:00
  You usually don't even have to pay out of pocket if you qualify for tuition vouchers
• 4:05
  through the Central Oklahoma Workforce Innovation Board, or COWIB.
• 4:09
  Wait, COWIB pays for the tuition?
• 4:12
  They literally cover workforce training vouchers for high demand careers in the
• 4:17
  metro.
• 4:18
  So you get trained on actual industry gear, get certified, and step right into those
• 4:23
  high paying manufacturing roles along Meridian or Interstate forty.
• 4:27
  That's huge.
• 4:29
  But...
• 4:29
  okay, what about right now?
• 4:32
  Like, say someone needs cash to cover rent this coming Tuesday while they sort out
• 4:36
  training or wait on a hiring event?
• 4:39
  Skill training is great, but it doesn't pay the electric bill tomorrow.
• 4:43
  Right.
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  Tactical cash flow for this weekend.
• 4:47
  If you need quick take home pay, the visitor and logistics corridor around Meridian
• 4:52
  and near the airport is constantly running flexible shifts.
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  Hotel event setups, warehouse packing, banquet staffing...
• 5:00
  you can easily pick up weekend shifts that pull in one hundred and eighty to two
• 5:04
  hundred and fifty dollars in immediate income.
• 5:07
  Yeah, and if you're already behind on utilities, don't just ignore the bill and take
• 5:13
  on high interest debt.
• 5:15
  The Community Action Agency of Oklahoma City offers direct utility support and free
• 5:21
  one on one financial coaching.
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  They will sit down with you and help structure a real budget so you aren't just
• 5:27
  treading water.
• 5:29
  So if you're listening to this and feeling stuck in that fifteen dollar an hour
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  loop, here is your one action step before five PM today.
• 5:38
  Don't wait until Monday.
• 5:40
  What's the move?
• 5:42
  Go to the OESC calendar online, pull up the details for that September fourteenth
• 5:47
  job fair in OKC, or call Francis Tuttle about their mechatronics voucher options.
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  Just make one phone call or register for one event before five o'clock today.
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  Put down the online application form, make the call, and get in front of real
• 6:03
  people.
• 6:04
  Alright, let's go grab some coffee.