Professionals-in-Residence (PiR)

In partnership with the Work It UP organization, companies receive direct support from an experienced professional, offering hands-on assistance in developing their business. Our partnership level agreement is for them to provide 10 hours per week of free counseling to MCED clients. Currently, this equates to about an hour per week.

Value for entrepreneurs

 Work it UP will help MCED clients develop the statement of work, recruit staff if warranted, and manage quality control (including succession planning for any interruptions to staffing assignments). The Work it UP program fills a key need of Maine businesses and organizations by providing very talented—and affordable—professional expertise. This groundbreaking program engages an idle workforce in the economic recovery by putting them back to work, helps Maine businesses survive and thrive, and maintains Maine’s investment in its professional workers. Work it UP’s staff members listen to businesses until they fully understand each business’s challenges. Then their staff networks throughout the local unemployed professional community to find the right people to address the challenges. When Work it UP puts unemployed professionals into a client business, the business gets valuable resources without having to:

• Wade through a stack of resumes
• Recruit or vet potential hires
• Make a hiring commitment
• Pay salary or benefits
• Deal with payroll issues (I9, payroll taxes, workman’s comp, SSI, FICA, etc.)
• Plan and manage the project

The client can also benefit from very positive PR by providing this opportunity for unemployed professionals.