“Talent is the new currency of economic development,” according to Darin M. Buelow of Deloitte Consulting LLP.

It is what enables our organizations to expand their footprint, and to service more customers. In doing so, economic growth strategies must merge industry and talent centric policies together in creative and innovated ways, to effectively engage, encourage and equip talent for short and long-term industry gains.  

South Dakota State University was about to play its first-round basketball game in this year’s Summit League Championships, and the energy was everywhere.

It carried over from the Denny Sanford Premier Center to Crooked Pint Ale House across the street, where a packed reception drew dozens of students, alumni, and area professionals.

Organized by the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, it was meant to “really draw the kids into the area, give them a really fun experience, connect them with our employers, connect them with our great city, make sure they know about all the wonderful career opportunities here,” said Denise Guzzetta, the foundation’s vice president of talent and workforce development.

“We’ve made it fun and engaging.”

SDSU president Barry Dunn praised the approach.

“I think it’s incredibly creative. I think we’ve all be frustrated with how do we tell our story better,” he said. “I’m just all for it.”

If your business finds itself trying to attract talent, develop talent or determine what resources are available to help, this event is for you. The WIN in Workforce Summit will be held from 1 to 6:30 p.m. Aug. 22 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center.

This annual event sponsored by the Sioux Falls Development Foundation brings together industry leaders, innovative educators and engaged business leaders from the greater Sioux Falls area to engage and share best practices for workforce development.

“We’ve put together an incredibly deep, informed group of experts to ensure you will leave this half-day event with actionable information and strategies you can immediately begin to put to work in your organization,” said Denise Guzzetta, vice president of talent and workforce development for the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.

It’s a persistent notion that all companies, large and small, are facing today: where will the next employee come from, and what can be done to retain a current employee?

In response to a tight job market marked by historically low unemployment rates and the need to meet employee expectations that are on the rise, the answer for some organizations seems to be as simple as bait on a fishing line: incentives.

The new decade is here, and with that, experts in all fields, including business and human resources, are making projections and predictions for what’s to come in 2020 and beyond. Accordingly, the first meeting in 2020 of the Recruitment Council, hosted by the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, presented a variety of HR trends for businesses to boost talent attraction and retention efforts in the new decade.

From the use of HR chatbots and other data-driven HR platforms to talent incentives and employer branding, the best practices that shape workforce development are the unifying themes that call together the Recruitment Council on a quarterly basis each year.

Led by Brad Schoenfelder, senior executive director of shared services for Sanford Health, and Denise Guzzetta, vice president of talent and workforce development for the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, nearly 85 members of the Recruitment Council registered for the event on Feb. 27 at the Sanford Research Center.

Talent Draft Day, a first-time event from the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, got off to a strong start with its debut event last week.

Designed to connect students pursuing high-need careers with the schools and businesses and that want work with them, it drew more than 600 talented area students from Harrisburg High School, Southeast Tech, Lake Area Tech and the Lake Area Multi-District Schools.