By Kevin Welch, CEO and Founder of
Journey Payroll & HR
Key Takeaways
✓ September is Colorado’s official Workforce Development Month, with real resources built specifically for employers, not just job seekers.
✓ ConnectingColorado.gov is a free state hiring platform that has already helped more than 6,600 Colorado employers fill open roles.
✓ Registered apprenticeships and work-based learning let employers grow the right fit into a role instead of hoping a resume predicts it.
✓ Local resources like Larimer County Economic and Workforce Development give Fort Collins area employers hands-on, human help, not just a website.
I talk to Colorado business owners every week who tell me hiring feels harder than it should, and most of them are trying to solve it entirely on their own. They post a job, wait, hope someone qualified applies, and if nobody does, they assume that is just how the market is right now. What most of them do not know is that Colorado has spent the last year quietly rebuilding a set of free hiring tools specifically for employers, and September is when the state puts them front and center. In addition, there are resources out there, including coaches that can help.
Why September Actually Matters for Colorado Employers
Every September, Colorado recognizes Workforce Development Month, a statewide push to spotlight the job training programs, career pathways, and hiring tools available through the state’s workforce system. It is easy to read that sentence and assume it is government messaging aimed at job seekers. It is not only that. A meaningful part of it is aimed directly at employers, and the tools behind it are not new pilot programs. They have already been quietly working.
What Is ConnectingColorado.gov, and Why Haven’t More Employers Used It?
ConnectingColorado.gov is the state’s hiring and job seeker platform, and it went through a significant modernization last year. Since that update, the platform has supported more than 190,000 job seekers, assisted more than 6,600 Colorado employers with recruitment, logged more than 180,400 job postings, and helped more than 7,300 Coloradans get hired directly through the site. More than 93,000 job seekers have come back to the platform more than once, which tells you people are finding it useful enough to return to.
If you have never posted a role there, that is not a knock on you. Most small and mid-sized Colorado employers I talk to do not know it exists, or they remember an older, clunkier version and assumed nothing had changed.
Your Local Resource Is Closer Than You Think
If you are a Fort Collins area employer, you do not have to figure any of this out alone or start with a cold call to a state agency in Denver. Larimer County Economic and Workforce Development is headquartered right here in Fort Collins, and its Business Services team exists specifically to help local employers review job descriptions, access labor market data, and connect with qualified talent. This is not a hotline that transfers you around. It is a local team whose job is to help businesses like yours hire well.
One concrete way to start: the 2026 Northern Colorado Workforce Symposium is coming up on September 9 at the Aims Community College Welcome Center in Greeley, hosted by Larimer County Economic and Workforce Development in partnership with the Weld County Workforce Center. It is built around hiring and retention strategies, workforce culture, and talent pipeline development, which is about as directly useful as a single day away from the office can get for an employer trying to hire smarter heading into 2027.
The Bottom Line
None of these tools are secret. They are just easy to overlook if nobody points them out, and most employers are too busy running their business to go looking for a state hiring platform on their own. That is the entire purpose of Workforce Development Month: to put a spotlight, once a year, on resources that are available every other month too.
At Journey Payroll & HR, we spend our days helping Colorado employers with payroll and HR so that hiring and growth do not get buried under administrative weight. Part of that job, the way I see it, is also pointing people toward resources that already exist and already work, even when they are not resources we built ourselves. Then when a hire is made, they can seamlessly onboard them into their company through Journey’s onboarding platform.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Colorado’s Workforce Development Month? Workforce Development Month is an annual September recognition, proclaimed by the Governor of Colorado, highlighting the job training programs, career pathways, and hiring resources available through the state’s public workforce system, Workforce Colorado. Most of the attention goes to job seeker resources, but a meaningful portion of what is highlighted, including hiring platforms and apprenticeship programs, is built specifically for employers.
Is ConnectingColorado.gov actually free for employers to use? Yes. ConnectingColorado.gov is the state’s public hiring platform, and Colorado employers can post openings and search for candidates at no cost. The platform has already helped thousands of Colorado employers fill roles since its modernization, which makes it worth a look even if you tried an older version of the site years ago and did not return.
What does Larimer County Economic and Workforce Development do for local employers? Larimer County Economic and Workforce Development, headquartered in Fort Collins, offers Business Services support to local employers, including reviewing job descriptions, providing labor market data, and connecting businesses directly with talent. I recommend it as a first call for Fort Collins area employers who want local, hands-on help rather than navigating a statewide system on their own.
Do small businesses qualify for Colorado’s workforce and apprenticeship resources? Yes. These programs are built to serve employers of all sizes, and small businesses are often the ones with the most to gain, since they typically do not have a dedicated recruiting team. At Journey Payroll & HR, I work with small and mid-sized Colorado employers every day who are exactly the audience these state and local resources were designed for.
Who can Colorado employers contact for hands-on help with hiring and workforce resources? I welcome Colorado employers to reach out to me directly, to a business coach, or to one of Journey’s trusted partners, for help navigating hiring challenges and the workforce resources available through the state and local community. Helping businesses find their footing in this area is one of the most rewarding parts of my work, whether or not that help ends up involving Journey’s own services.
About Kevin Welch
Kevin Welch is the CEO, Owner, and Founder of Journey Payroll & HR, a locally owned payroll and HR services company headquartered in Colorado. Kevin has a straightforward mission: give Colorado’s small and mid-sized businesses access to the same quality payroll, HR, and compliance support that larger companies have always taken for granted.
Kevin has led Journey to being on the BizWest’s Mercury 100 list of Colorado’s fastest-growing companies 14 times, recognized as a Company to Watch from ColoradoBiz, recognized as a Business Icon from ColoradoBiz, and awarded the Torch Award for Ethics by the BBB.
Kevin writes on payroll compliance, HR strategy, workforce trends, and the employment law changes that keep Colorado business owners up at night. He has a reputation for translating complicated regulatory and workforce topics into plain language that actually helps people make better decisions for their businesses and their teams.
To connect with Kevin or learn more about Journey Payroll & HR, visit
www.JourneyPayrollHR.com
or connect with him on LinkedIn at
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwelchjourney.