Spotlight On: Cheryl Taylor, CEO, CareerSource Northeast Florida

Key points:

• • CareerSource Northeast Florida is strengthening talent pipelines through employer partnerships and workforce training.
• • The organization is expanding labor force participation by connecting underserved populations with jobs.
• • Preparing workers for AI and future workforce needs remains a top priority.

July 2026 —In an interview with Invest:, Cheryl Taylor, CEO of CareerSource Northeast Florida, discussed the organization’s focus on employer responsiveness, talent development, labor force participation, and preparing workers for a changing economy. “We are the talent arm of economic development,” Taylor said.

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What have been some of the key milestones and strategic initiatives for CareerSource Northeast Florida over the past year?

The past year, for businesses as well as for CareerSource Northeast Florida, has been one of uncertainty. With that in mind, we have taken a comprehensive look at how we provide services to both our business partners and the job seekers we serve. Our focus has primarily been on responsiveness to businesses, as well as sustainability.

This year, we went through a reorganization and restructuring of the services that we provide to job seekers, keeping in mind that we needed to be flexible and available with the right resources to support businesses, which we consider our No. 1 customer, in getting the services and talent they need.

CareerSource Northeast Florida is one of 21 local workforce development boards. We are one of the only ones that has an urban core and six surrounding small counties. Part of our focus this past year has been to focus more strategically on some of our rural counties and assist them in their economic development by securing funding from our state-level partners to enhance and expand business and talent development opportunities in their areas.

How would you describe CareerSource Northeast Florida’s role in supporting job seekers and employers across the region’s key industries?

Our role with employers is about talent development. Talent is one of the leading challenges businesses are going to be facing in terms of their future needs. How do you recruit that talent? How do you retain that talent? Talent pipeline and talent development are among the top things we focus on.

We do that primarily through work-based training, where we partner with businesses to discuss how we can assist them in upskilling their existing talent. We also look at how we can assist them in retaining that talent. We have found that investing in employees increases the likelihood they will stay. Through apprenticeship programs and customized training programs, the value placed on training and developing employees works not only for them but also for the employer in terms of retention.

The other area we have been focusing on is recruitment and job fairs. We have a job fair every Wednesday at one of our seven career centers and host several job fairs at our other career centers throughout Northeast Florida as well, which allows us to connect job seekers with employers who are in need of workers. Our unemployment rate is relatively low, but our No. 1 goal is to increase the labor force participation rate in our region.

We have been intentional about working with businesses and asking them to consider offering employment and internship opportunities to populations they may not otherwise consider, such as returning citizens and people who may have been disconnected from the workforce for an extended period of time. We can provide post-placement support to those job seekers while they are on the job.

How has demand for workforce development services evolved in high-growth sectors such as healthcare, logistics, construction, and technology?

The Jacksonville area is one of the fastest-growing areas in the state of Florida. We are proud to say that we typically have the No. 1 and No. 2 school systems in the state. Nassau County is currently the No. 1 public school system in Florida, and St. Johns County is typically right behind it.

We have had a lot of growth in Northeast Florida since the COVID pandemic. A lot of development is occurring, and the industries growing most rapidly in our area are healthcare, logistics, and transportation. With the growth in these areas, we have also seen an acceleration in construction, including housing developments across the region.

We are also having more businesses relocate to Northeast Florida, and those relocations or expansions have primarily been in healthcare. Advanced manufacturing has been a high-growth area, as well as aviation.

Another unique thing about the Jacksonville area is that we are one of the leading retirement locations for people exiting the military. We have Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Naval Station Mayport in our area, as well as Kings Bay right across the border in Georgia. That gives us a robust talent pipeline to assist in growth areas such as advanced manufacturing and aviation.

How important have soft skills, digital literacy, and credential-based education become in today’s labor market?

Soft skills, specifically communication, reliability, and teamwork, are among the top things employers are saying they need more of. Since COVID, we have a generation of young adults who did not have the opportunity to fully develop the interpersonal skills that are essential to teamwork as they enter the workforce. That is one of the top attributes employers are seeking, and it is one of the pillars we are adopting as we move forward in working with youth and young adults in workforce development. 

We also think it is important to work with employers and give them a toolkit to understand new generations, like Gen Z, as they enter the workforce. Mental health is important to them. The values and culture of a company are important to them. Helping them communicate on the job and helping employers communicate with them across that generational gap is critically important.

In terms of industry-recognized credentials, employers understand their value. In Florida, we have a master credentials list that is supported by businesses and the Florida Chamber to ensure that students graduating from high school and entering the workforce receive credentials of value. Credentials funded through federal dollars also need to be credentials of value that workers can amass as they build their career paths.

Digital literacy is no longer optional in any workforce or workplace. It is absolutely mandatory for employees to be digitally literate. Our focus is to assist populations that may have challenges around digital literacy and help them build that skill set so they have the tools they need to enter and remain in the workforce.

What trends are you seeing in how workers and employers are approaching training, career advancement, and workforce readiness?

For us, it goes back to credentials of value and understanding what employers need. The credentials of value are based on what employers are telling us they need.

One way we assist is through employer-based training. As a workforce development board and part of the workforce network, we have found that employer-based training and customized training offer the highest return on investment for us as an organization. It assists people while they are on the job and gives them the training they need at a lower cost.

The other avenue we use to support employers and job seekers is through individual training accounts, or scholarships, that we offer to job seekers to prepare them for the local ecosystem here in Northeast Florida.

We partner closely with JAXUSA and all six of our economic development partners, and we train to meet the needs identified by those partners. Their input ensures our training aligns with local economic sectors, including advanced manufacturing, healthcare, finance, technology, and construction.

We also leverage our labor market intelligence with businesses and job seekers. Job seekers need to understand what the industry is looking for, and businesses need labor market information about competitive wages in the area so they can support their recruitment efforts.

If I am a high schooler and I want to go to work, we have a dashboard on our website where students can see what companies are hiring, what positions they are hiring for, what salaries come with various certifications, and how they can grow and build their career path.

What are CareerSource Northeast Florida’s top strategic priorities moving forward?

Our strategic priorities moving forward include partnerships with economic development, education, and community organizations. We are focusing our efforts on building the talent pipeline to support the needs of businesses.

It is about education and being a convener of the workforce, so we can discuss what the future of work looks like as Artificial Intelligence reshapes and changes the face of work. Businesses are having to make hard decisions regarding hiring and what that looks like as they prepare for the future.

A top focus of ours is increasing labor force participation. We want to reach out to communities that may have been underserved in the past and try to bring them back into the workforce. That means being intentional about working within our rural communities, underserved communities, and communities where a person may be justice-involved.

We are the talent arm of economic development. That is what the workforce is. That is what our job is: building talent and building work for the future.

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