TeamKC, the Kansas City Area Development Council’s talent attraction and retention initiative, is partnering with the Platte County Economic Development Council and KC SmartPort to connect recently displaced talent with area employers in response to Harley-Davidson’s announcement of layoffs at its Kansas City plant.

Some of the biggest buzzwords in the Kansas City region as of late are “talent” and “workforce.” And they most definitely should be. The U.S. is seeing a historically low unemployment rate of 3.9 percent – the lowest in 17 years.

The TeamKC Training Camp was attended by more than 350 top recruiters and human resources professionals from companies including Hallmark, Garmin, Bank of America, Sprint, H&R Block, Dairy Farmers of America, Virgin Mobile USA, State Street, and Cerner Corporation.

350 KC-area human resources pros gather as the first annual event unveils new Explore KC resource, industry's first MVP Award, 2018 Advisory Board and more.

First annual event unveils new Explore KC resource, industry’s first MVP Award, 2018 Advisory Board. Burns & McDonnell’s Jen Parker to serve as co-chair with State Street’s Steven Green.

This morning, more than 40 recruiters representing KC’s top employers joined us for a TeamKC Corporate Recruiter Roundtable where they shared insight on navigating “wants” and “non-negotiables” for mid- to senior-level passive candidates, as well as creative sourcing strategies for these individuals. Below are key takeaways from the discussion:

The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers offers insight into the Latinx workforce and ways to engage this talent today and into the future.

Creating a holistic approach to developing company culture is the first step in recruiting and retaining key candidates. Gerald Wagner, president of Academy of Culture Ambassadors, an organization that supports professionals interested in creating cultural change within their company, talks about how putting human kindness and compassion is the key to a companies overall cultural strategy.

While millennials are on track to make up 75 percent of the global workforce by 2025, for an organization to stay competitive as an “employer of choice” with the next generation of talent, it’s critical to understand the Gen Z mindset.

Sourcing new talent through an employee referral program can be one of a recruiter’s best assets, but only if the program actually works. Kevin Fryer, president and CEO of JobShakers, a mobile application referral company talks about why some referral programs don’t work, and how to develop key strategies to develop a successful program.