Iowa's Brain Drain - Part 1

Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series on stemming the ‘brain drain’ — young people moving from rural Iowa to other states for higher pay or better jobs. This week focuses young professionals who have returned to the area for the quality of life. Next week will focus on area businesses that are looking for skilled vocational or agriculture employees.

• Comparable salary with family-friendly benefits
  
• Good work environment in their chosen field
  
• Quality schools and education
  
• Community activities and events

When Iowa looks at ways to reverse its ‘brain drain’ — the exodus of Iowa college educated professionals to the bright lights of bigger cities — the state may not need to look much further than Kossuth County for ideas.

According to Governor Tom Vilsack, the youth leaving isn’t a problem.

“I understand the desire to try something new,” stated Vilsack. “What we want to do is create a climate so that when (the students) decide to settle down, decide to have a family, decide to raise children — that’s when we want to be able to make a case.”
Kossuth County Economic Development Corporation has been making that case for more than five years with its intern program and promoting business growth.

“When you look at the quality jobs that are available right here in Kossuth County and the surrounding areas, these young college students and young families are realizing that they are able to have a fulfilling job that they enjoy,” stated Maureen Elbert, executive director of KCEDC.

It’s not hard to find the young professionals and returning professionals in the area once you start to look.

Young professionals
Eric Becker and Brian Sohn are both recent college graduates working in their preferred field at the Hydrogen Engine Center in Algona.

Sohn is the financial controller for HEC. Originally from Primghar, he graduated from Buena Vista University in 2004 with a B.A. in accounting, finance and banking. After graduation, he moved to Dixion, Ill., to work for a public accounting firm.

He had looked at jobs in Iowa, but was unable to find anything that fit his needs.

“There aren’t any large accounting firms in northwestern Iowa,” stated Sohn. “I had an opportunity in Sheldon but the amount they were offering was a lot less than in Illinois.”

That changed with the career opportunity at HEC.

“It’s back home but a similar salary,” Sohn stated. “Plus, it’s a promising young company on the cutting edge of technology. It’s exciting to be working here.”

For Becker, the job as a mechanical engineer at HEC brought him all the way home. He graduated from Bishop Garrigan High School in 2000 and from Minnesota State in Mankato with a B.S. in mechanical engineering in 2005.

He spent a year at Hagie Manufacturing in Clarion before coming on board at HEC.

“For me, it was nice to come home,” stated Becker. “My wife, Mollie, and I are looking forward to children in the future, and the schools are better here than you’ll find in a large city.”

Becker emphasized that young professionals need to look at the big picture when looking for employment.

“I suppose I make comparable to what others in my class are making in larger cities, but I’m not paying close to what they are for cost of living,” Becker stated. “I may make a little less, but I live in a better house.”

A study done by KCEDC interns on the cost of living in 2003 showed Algona’s cost of living, based on rent, electric, water and phone, averaged $481 a month. Des Moines was $650, St. Paul, Minn., was $900 and both New York and San Francisco were $2,000.

“You can always go and visit the bigger community,” Sohn stated. “I like living in a smaller community. It’s easier to get involved and people seem to care more.”

New companies
It was the smaller community and a job in his field that brought back Dave Rosenmeyer. He was born and raised in Algona and graduated from South Dakota State University with a degree in agriculture business. He spent more than 15 years working around the Midwest before Midwest Grain Processors opened in Lakota.

“Coming back was a combination of quality of life, being near family — and the value proposition of ethanol,” stated Rosenmeyer.

Coming home
It’s not just the start up companies that are bringing back the professionals.
Jenny Grainger is originally from Livermore and was one of the thousands who leave Iowa after college.

After graduating from Hamilton Business College in Mason City in 1990 with a degree in travel and tourism, Grainger spent time traveling internationally on cruise ships before getting hired on at a casino.

In 2004, her husband, Julian, was hired in Georgia. The goal was to spend three years in Georgia and then move back to Iowa for their children’s education.

“It was great,” stated Grainger. “I was able to stay home with the kids.”

Then Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ripped through the Gulf Coast. Julian’s company went bankrupt, and the Graingers made the move home early.

“Julian was unsure about moving to north Iowa, but he’s never been happier,” explained Grainger. “Working at the casinos was great money but very demanding. We worked every night, weekend and holiday. People don’t appreciate having a 9 to 5 job and spending the holidays with their families. We didn’t have a holiday off for 12 years.”

Julian is a teller coordinator at U.S. Bank in Humboldt while Grainger is a personal lines underwriter for Pharmacists Mutual. Grainger lives in Humboldt, drops her son off at St. Mary’s Preschool in Humboldt and her daughter at Twin River Valley, her alma mater.

“My daughter has seven kids in her second grade classroom,” explained Grainger. “It’s so unlike Georgia, where the classes were overcrowded.”

For Grainger and her family, the income is a lot less than what they were making before, but the ability to spend time with friends and family makes up for it.

“We had to adapt, but we’re not struggling,” Grainger stated. “Things are so much cheaper here.”

When living in Kansas City, Grainger spent $110 a day for daycare for both children. While she only pays for one child now, that’s the amount she pays for a week. Their home is twice as big as their house in Georgia but costs half as much. More important, now she has neighbors.

“We never got close to our neighbors before. Everyone had fenced yards. Every third house was the same. People never got together,” she explained. “Now we live in a historic home. We have friends over and bonfires.”

Staying home
Nick Roethler graduated from Bishop Garrigan in 2000.

“I never wanted to live anywhere else,” stated Roethler. “I was pretty much dead-set on moving back.”

He spent two years at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City before transferring to Iowa State in Ames. He graduated in December 2004 with a B.A. in civil engineering. He started at Kuehl and Payer, LTD., in January 2005.

He took advantage of the intern program offered by KCEDC, interning both for the Kossuth County Engineers office and Kuehl and Payer.

“A lot of what we learned interning I knew from living here,” Roethler stated. “But I didn’t know about all the different kinds of opportunities available for engineers in the area.”

He is still involved with KCEDC and has seen how the intern program has helped people in the area.

“Interning is a good way to get your foot in the door,” Roethler stated. “It’s like a test drive for the job and the company. A company is more apt to hire you if you intern with them first.”

It also gives students a chance to learn outside of the classroom.

“I got to learn from actual engineers the behind-the-scenes work that they take for granted, the small things you don’t learn in school,” said Roethler.

Interning works
Jim Conard interned at Northwest Federal in Spencer in 1995 and graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1996 with a degree in business management and a minor in finance and political science.

He then spent seven years near the Black Hills in South Dakota, working for Wells Fargo. When he decided to move closer to his family in Spencer, he contacted Northwest Federal and was hired in March 2003 at the Algona location.

“Interning gives students a foothold to come back to a community,” stated Conard. “They can go away for a while, but interning lets them see where the opportunities are.”

He’s now part of KCEDC’s intern program, watching 40 to 50 interns go through the program every summer.

“We want the students to network here with other interns and the CEOs of local companies,” Conard explained. “We want them to have that draw back to the community.”

According to Conard, businesses need to emphasize the quality of life in Kossuth County.

“That’s a vague term, but when a company is competing against Des Moines or out of state for an employee, they need to spend time outside of the office in the interview,” Conard stated. “Show them what’s going on, especially here in Algona — the new movie theater, renovated down town, Eastland Plaza. There are so many things going on that are not available in a larger city. If the employee has kids, show them the school system.

“It is incumbent on us as employers to promote that aspect of Algona.”