Growing Long Beach: How Pacific Gateway Connects Employers To Qualified Candidates

By Pierce Nahigyan

The City of Long Beach’s workforce development arm, Pacific Gateway, is a resource for both employers and job applicants in Long Beach and Signal Hill, as well as the Los Angeles harbor communities. For job applicants, the organization offers educational seminars, job fairs and skills training workshops. For employers, Pacific Gateway helps narrow the search and fill open positions with the best-qualified candidates. Lucius Martin, business engagement manager at Pacific Gateway, described his agency as the “connective tissue” between the city and its employer base.

The first step in connecting a company to new workers is discerning what the company’s “pain points” are, Martin told the Business Journal. To do so, Pacific Gateway representatives meet the company management and discuss what they need to increase the productivity or quality of their workforce. The agency then invites applicants to employer information sessions and recruitment events. “We invite the employer to our offices and they provide an overview of their company culture, current opportunities, the variety of positions,” Martin said.

Read more on the Long Beach Business Journal