You’ll find some unusual job listings at Wyoming Venture Capital Jobs, the state’s newest jobs board. Generative AI product manager for example, or machine learning engineer.
The job categories are not only surprising, but the salaries are generally above average. They’ve followed in the wake of a new nexus of startups in Wyoming, created thanks to a $58.4 million allocation to Wyoming from the U.S. Department of the Treasury for the State Small Business Credit Initiative.
The money is venture capital to invest directly into Wyoming startups. The Wyoming Business Council is focusing the money on new businesses that can be difference-makers for the state in terms of diversification or economic impact.
“What we saw after making some of these direct investments into Wyoming companies is they were struggling to find good Wyoming talent,” Wyoming Business Council and Wyoming Venture Capital Managing Director Bert Adam told Cowboy State Daily. “And that’s part of the lens that we use for trying to make sure these are good investments for Wyoming, is the economic development agency for the state.
“How are they hiring? What is the economic impact, where are the jobs, what are the wages and the capital expenditures that they may put into Wyoming?”
Fighting Back Against Brain Drain
The new jobs board will only list positions that are either physically in Wyoming or that are remote jobs Wyomingites could take.
“These are some of the jobs that maybe we don’t necessarily think about as much,” Adam said. “Like there are some really interesting jobs that you maybe wouldn’t see elsewhere. The generative AI product manager, for example. How many companies in Wyoming are hiring AI product managers or machine learning engineers?”
Highlighting these diverse positions that haven’t typically been available in Wyoming is something Wyoming Business Council CEO Josh Dorrell hopes will catch the attention of the state’s recent and upcoming college graduates, as well as Wyomingites who perhaps left the state for greener pastures, but would like to return
“This can just broaden people’s view of the types of jobs available in Wyoming,” he said. “And that’s something that’s important, because our students typically leave, and people feel like they can’t come back. So opening up these new opportunities broadens the idea of what jobs are available in Wyoming, to continue chipping away at that exodus of talent.”
That exodus of talent is quite large, Dorrell added.
“By the time people are in their 30s, so late 20s and on, we lose 65% of those people,” he said. “And there’s only one other state that has a greater exodus, and I think that might be West Virginia. So, we’re trying to reverse that trend, and make sure that people know about these opportunities and not just to stay, but also to come back.”
Multi-Pronged Effort
Transplants, meanwhile, aren’t anywhere near to keeping up with the loss of talent, Dorrell said.
“The only population band that’s really growing in the state of Wyoming, right now, is the 65 and above (category),” he said. “So that demographic is growing, but typically speaking, they’re not part of the workforce.”
Wyoming has several ongoing efforts to understand these trends and try to mitigate them, Dorrell said.
That work suggests it might not just be that salaries in the state aren’t competitive with opportunities in surrounding states that’s the problem.
“We’re digging into that more to truly understand what those effects are,” Dorrell said. “Because (salaries) can be part of it. I think availability of opportunities, and the idea that you might be able to command a similar salary when you do cost of living adjustments in a community, but it might be the only opportunity you have. So if it doesn’t work out, you’re sort of stuck.”
That’s where he feels the startup job board can be helpful, by highlighting some of the unusual new opportunities that Wyoming is creating.
“People want to have options, in addition to that salary,” Dorrell said. “And then also, community amenities that make the livability better.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
