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Bowling Green Works: local hiring platform shows rising placements and employer engagement
Summary
CrowdSouth CEO Jason Heflin reported higher hiring rates and growing employer participation in the joint city-county Bowling Green Works campaign, with program renewal scheduled for July 1.
CrowdSouth CEO Jason Heflin briefed the Board of Commissioners on April 15 about Bowling Green Works, the city's joint workforce campaign with the county, saying program metrics have improved since inception and recommending the commission consider renewing funding ahead of a July 1 renewal decision.
Heflin presented a dashboard showing the program's hiring rate had risen from 17.6 to 25.5 (meaning roughly 25.5 hires per 100 applications), nearly 23,000 applications have been sent to employers since the campaign began, and 5,863 total jobs have been filled through the initiative. He said the program averages about 172 jobs filled per month and had 166 employers on the platform as of March 2025.
"One out of every four applicants is getting hired through the program," Heflin said, and he noted approximately 60% of applicants use the platform's "attachment" feature to upload a resume or additional information. Heflin said that higher engagement with attachments is indicative of applicants pursuing a range of positions beyond entry-level listings.
Commissioners asked for additional breakdowns. Commissioner Hill asked whether the 23,000 figure represented unique people or unique applications; Heflin clarified the number counts applications (one person may submit multiple applications). Commissioner Bailey asked for geographic breakdowns; Heflin said most applicants are from the city's 10-county region and nearby Northern Tennessee counties and said he could provide exact local/hometown numbers on request.
Heflin named several employers that have been most active in 2025, including Fruit of the Loom, Bendix, Bowling Green Warehousing and Graves Gilbert Clinic. He told commissioners employers who actively manage their profiles achieve the best results, and he invited commissioners to meet with him for any additional detail. The city and county are scheduled to consider program renewal on July 1, 2025.
No formal action to renew funding was taken at the April 15 meeting; Heflin said he would provide more detailed local applicant and hiring-location breakdowns on request.
