OXFORD – A free entrepreneurial workshop titled “How to Find and Retain Great Employees” will be held on Tuesday, March 7 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Oxford Academy Primary School multi-purpose room.

The event will feature Brad Treat, Entrepreneur-in-Residence with the Southern Tier Startup Alliance, with Julia Miller of Blueox Energy Products & Services and Oxford Academy educator Mark Muller.

Treat – who has a long history as an entrepreneur and businessman and is currently acting as a teaching and mentoring entrepreneur for Southern Tier Startup Alliance – will provide staffing insight and recommendations based on his expertise. Treat will ask and answer questions such as, how do you identify and locate the employees that are best suited for your business, and how do you keep them?

Following Treat's portion of the presentation, the event will take a local turn. A new partnership is reportedly being launched between Oxford Academy and other area businesses in an effort to produce capable regional workers to meet the needs of regional businesses.

One of the first of said partnerships is Blueox, who is already involved in Oxford Academy's Work-Based Learning Program. Blueox Business Development Manager Julia Miller realized that going forward, Blueox could benefit from new employees who already are proficient in particular business doings such as Excel and other specific soft skills.