Return North brings former residents back home to fill mid-career positions

Grandma and mom both want the kids to return home. Michigan and the Upper Peninsula’s culture calls former residents back to the Great Lakes state. This Thursday, the MTEC SmartZone hosts the annual Return North career fair. 2024 will connect nine employers within the region with prospective employees searching for a way to return north.

It grew to become a broader need across the Upper Peninsula. And that is the need to attract mid-career level people back to the Upper Peninsula because we’ve, we identified that there were companies who were looking for that mid-career talent, not necessarily, you know, fresh out of high school or college talent, but that mid-career level talent. And we have that in those people, those specific people who have, say, moved elsewhere from the Upper Peninsula in many cases. – Jason Mack, Vice President of Business Development, MTEC SmartZone

The Return North career fair started as a way to support start-up companies involved with the SmartZone business incubator. But has since then grown to include other businesses in the region in the healthcare industry, engineering, and more. Last year’s event had close to 300 participants registered to Return North. There’s still time to register for the virtual career fair on Thursday, find more information here.

Return North is sponsored by the MTEC SmartZone, Michigan Technological University, and Upper Peninsula Michigan Works!