Workforce & Employment Resources

Greater Mankato Growth is happy to help your organization with recruitment and retention needs. We have collected the following recruitment and retention resources as well as opportunities for one-on-one support from Greater Mankato Growth staff. Talent support services are provided at no cost to businesses and organizations located in Blue Earth and Nicollet County through the support of the Regional Economic Development Alliance (REDA) and to chamber members outside the region through matching dollars committed by the business community.

Employers seeking to partner with Mankato Area Public Schools can find available opportunities at this link.

Organizations with

Specialized Hiring Support

The Minnesota Council of Churches (MCC) can assist your business in recruiting and retaining individuals from the New American, refugee, and asylee community. These organizations will learn your job needs, perform initial coaching with individuals who may have English language difficulties, and can assist with identifying bilingual individuals who can lead those without current workplace English fluency.

MRCI, EON, & Lifeworks provide services that can help employers recruit individuals with some level of disability. Disability ranges widely between individuals and can include anything from physical disabilities to mental health disabilities, including ADHD. Prior to placement, a job coach will typically learn the skills and training required for the position and ensure that the skills match the capabilities of a potential employee. New strategies for hiring individuals with disabilities include “job carving,” where tasks appropriate for the disabled worker are carved out of an existing job, freeing the existing employee to spend more time on tasks requiring higher skill. Additionally, companies can work with the Disability Employment Specialists with the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development (DEED).

There are three key regional programs that can aide employers seeking to hire justice involved workers.

The Blue Earth County Treatment Court System is an intervention program including the Drug Court, Dependency Court, and Veteran’s Court. The purpose of this program is to help individuals avoid incarceration. Employers have shared positive experiences working with participants in the program as the court system ensures that they show up to work regularly and on time and ensures that workers have access to transportation. Workers find success as it helps them avoid incarceration and maintain care of their children.

The Blue Earth County Community Corrections Office oversees individuals on probation and parole. Employers seeking to hire “second chance” workers can work with this office to share this interest as the office works to direct those they work with to employers. The office can also work with employers to help them formulate interview questions that confirm if an individual is a good fit.

The Redemption Project is a non-profit organization providing specialized training to incarcerated individuals during their incarceration. They provide a 16-week culture/character training program, connect individuals with a mentor, and provide post-release support including employer connections. While federal recidivism rates are 68% and state recidivism rates are 38%, their participant recidivism rates are only 10%. Due to the fact that inmates are released into the communities they live in, they are working to establish employer partnerships all over the state.

Most regional staffing agencies provide direct hire recruitment, temporary-to-hire recruitment, and temporary recruitment services. Working with a staffing agency can be a great way to supplement hiring efforts whether your workforce needs fluctuate, you have a specific highly skilled position to fill, or if you are struggling to recruit & retain talent in general.

A list of staffing agencies serving the Greater Mankato Area can be found here: Greater Mankato Employment Agencies and Resources

Staff Training Services

In addition to their traditional credit programs, South Central College and Minnesota State University, Mankato both work directly with employers to provide customized training programs. These services can help organizations train new staff, upskill existing staff, and provide necessary leadership skills for employees who have been promoted beyond their original production roles.

South Central College provides these services through the Center for Business & Industry: Center for Business & Industry | Workforce (southcentral.edu)

Minnesota State University, Mankato provides these services through the Center for Workforce Professional Education: Center for Workforce Professional Education | Minnesota State University, Mankato (mnsu.edu)

Job Posting

Job Posting Websites

Job Posting Strategy

When posting jobs, it’s important to separate your “job description,” which is an internal document, from your “job posting,” which represents the external marketing for your job. Job titles should be adjusted to reflect what candidates will search for, not the internal title you use for the position. Think of job titles the same way that you would think of SEO.

Job descriptions should be kept as short as possible and should highlight only the items that are critical to the role and are not a “given.” Items like “punctuality and good attendance are required” lengthen a posting unnecessarily and draw attention away from the important items that are unique to that job.

A basic strategy that is used includes a short “About us/the position” section and an “About You” section that highlights the desired traits of a successful applicant.

State Resources

A map of Minnesota highlighting the 6 different Workforce Strategy Consultants. Jess Miller is the representative for Southwest & South Central Minnesota. Her email is listed as jessica.miller@state.mn.us. Her cell phone is listed as 507-508-2578.

Workforce Strategy Consultants

DEED and the Minnesota Department of Labor & Industry provide the following programs that can assist with the training and development of new or existing talent. Most of these are used in conjunction with the services provided by the educational institutions listed above.

The Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Program (MJSP) partners with businesses and schools to train or retrain workers, expand opportunities, and keep high-quality jobs in the state. Grants of up to $400,000 are awarded to educational institutions that partner with businesses to develop new-job training or retraining for existing employees. Businesses can partner with educational institutions to apply for funding for specific training projects.

The Automation Training Incentive Program provides grants of up to $25,000 to small businesses in the manufacturing or skilled production industry for the express purpose of training incumbent workers as quickly and effectively as possible on new automation technology.

The Dual-Training Pipeline Program exists to support employers in creating or enhancing a competency-based dual-training approach where workers receive a combination of related instruction strategically paired with on-the-job training. Instruction from a post-secondary institution can be covered by grants of up to $6,000 per individual in the program and a maximum of $150,000 per organization. 

The Scitechsperience Internship Program is a paid internship that connects college students in science, technology, engineering and math disciplines with hands-on opportunities at Minnesota companies. The focus is on strengthening Minnesota’s STEM industries and developing an experienced and well-trained workforce. Employers can receive a 50% match on wages paid to interns up to $2,500.

Workforce Strategy Consultants are representatives of DEED who partner with employers in key industry sectors to discuss innovative solutions to workforce challenges. Your workforce strategy consultant can help advise on your organization’s eligibility for the programs above and advise on which program may be the best for your organization.

Greater Mankato Growth Support

Data Support

Greater Mankato Growth staff are happy to support your organization by providing data to supplement your recruitment strategies. Greater Mankato Growth can provide data on wage data, demographics, and employment & unemployment trends in our region. GMG can share data on hiring trends in our region including the job posting categories with the highest demand, the education requirements of regional job openings, and skill requirements of those job postings.

Strategic Support

Greater Mankato Growth Staff will meet with employers to discuss existing recruitment & retention strategies. Greater Mankato Growth staff can meet with an organization to discuss existing recruitment & retention strategies and identify potential gaps. Staff can then discuss potential solutions including reviewing job postings/where they are posted and making comparisons between an organization’s postings and those of similar employers located outside of our region. Staff can also discuss potential training & retention opportunities. Finally, Greater Mankato Growth staff can help identify the appropriate external partners for an organization and provide introductions to those partners.

To request data for your organization or to request one-on-one support contact Jake Rinehart at [email protected].

Learn more about the Greater Mankato Region

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