Discover the Diverse World of Creativity at Springfield's First of its Kind Hiring Event
Springfield, Mass. - Creative jobs extend far beyond the traditional stereotype, and bringing those jobs to Springfield is one goal of Ariaun Stewart, owner of C.HR. Her business, which stands for Community Human Resources, is organizing a Creative Hiring Event to the Mass Mutual Center on June 24. The first-of-its-kind event goes beyond just hiring and finding potential employees, with a panel discussion, clinics and networking.
The Creative Hiring Event was inspired by Stewart’s work with the Springfield Creative City Collective. Through the organization, Stewart and other business owners are focused on building the creative economy of Springfield. Their primary focuses are heal, empower, invest and sustain, using those objectives in their mission to explore the positive ways and tools to grow the area’s creative community.
One of Stewart’s goals by hosting the Creative Hiring Event is to reframe the idea of what a creative job entails.
“Educators are creators,” she said. “Technology is creative - people who do websites and coding.”
By reframing the idea of creative jobs, she also hopes to build the demand and need for more mid-range jobs, giving people a reason to stay in Springfield or come to the area for job opportunities.
“We need to be known for something else,” she said. “We need to pick a lane and go all in, and invest like crazy. Go to schools and get kids excited about this industry.”
Stewart recognizes there are plenty of educated and talented employees in the area, but building the community as a hub for creative teams is one way to attract more businesses interested in hiring.
During the Creative Hiring Event, Stewart’s goal is to find jobs for 50 people. With a variety of seminars and clinics, she hopes that the others who attend will learn enough to adapt their resume or find tools to get a new job in the near future.
Sharing Different Types of Creatives
She has invited several people with creative backgrounds to be part of a panel discussion, sharing their perspective on the industry and how varied the opportunities are. Another panel will center around technical assistance with speakers from Tech Foundry, while another will focus on public speaking.
The keynote speaker for the conference is Mychal Connolly, owner of Stand Out Truck®. Stewart is using the truck to promote her event, the first time she’s used it for her own business. Previously she utilized it to promote another event, and offered a few hours of advertising on the truck as a gift for another business. She saw success with both opportunities.
“It’s a no-brainer for me,” she said. Her priority is to encourage potential job hunters to come to the event, and also bring employers who seek creative employees. Using the Stand Out Truck® to highlight this new event seemed like a natural decision.
“I feel like there’s success with the truck, but I also feel that anything Myke Connolly gets behind is successful,” she said. “He’s a genuine person when it comes to helping businesses, especially in this area.”
Helping businesses also falls into Stewart’s expertise. Although one function of C.HR is to help people find jobs, she also assists small businesses guiding their human resource needs. She started an online podcast specifically to help educate people and these small community businesses.
Bringing C.HR to the Community
Stewart founded the company in 2021 after working in a variety of human resource and hiring roles for health care, retail, manufacturing and cannabis.
“I like that human resources is everywhere,” she said. Most clients are in Western Massachusetts, plus she has a connection with Common Capital to help with finding positions for local residents.
A career in human resources was always in the back of her mind. In college she enjoyed psychology, but also had a passion for strategic planning and helping businesses grow. She finds that through HR she can fulfill multiple needs, giving people a place to work where they can feel safe and support their families.
“When you bring more money into a business, you’re also paying people who have lives and families outside of that,” Stewart said. “It’s a bigger impact than you might think about initially.”
The Creative Hiring Event will be held on June 24 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Mass Mutual Center. The panel discussion will occur midday, with clinics at various times. Roughly 20 hiring booths and lifestyle vendors will be open all day. While the event is free to attend, tickets for the lunch, panel discussion and clinic can be purchased on Eventbrite or the C.HR website.
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