Workforce conference on Jan. 12
NSU-Broken Arrow to host workforce conference on Jan. 12, 2022
BROKEN ARROW — Northeastern State University Broken Arrow will host a workforce conference from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 12.
Green Country Workforce’s second annual “Growing Talent for Tomorrow” conference is bringing together state officials, employers, and nonprofit organizations in the banquet hall on the Broken Arrow campus and virtually to discuss hiring strategies and tactics to help retain employees.
“Our goal is to bring employers together to solve common problems,” Rachel Hutchings, executive director of Green Country Workforce, said. “We also strive to connect other agencies and partners who are working on the same topics. It is exciting that employers want to share their successes with their peers.”
Scheduled speakers include NSU President Steve Turner, Oklahoma Lt. Governor Matt Pinnell and Brent Kisling, executive director at the Oklahoma Department of Commerce.
The event will also host three panels designed to give attendees an opportunity to learn about how a diverse group of employers successfully recruit from a traditionally untapped workforce, and how to create an environment that helps those employees be successful.
The first panel is titled “Hiring Immigrant and Diverse Populations – Recruiting and Retaining Diverse Talent” and will take place from 9 to 10 a.m. It will be moderated by Council on American-Islamic Relations Oklahoma Civil Rights Director Veronica Laizure.
The next panel “Hiring Justice-Involved – From a Human Resources Perspective” will take place from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m. and will be moderated by Lani Burns, education and employment director with Women in Recovery.
Hutchings said people who are justice-involved and immigrants are disproportionately left out of the job market or underemployed. She added several employers that make up the Green Country Workforce’s board are recruiting, hiring and retaining employees successfully in these two areas.
The final panel of the day is titled “Retention Strategies amid the ‘Great Resignation.’” Hutchings said the impact of the ‘Great Resignation’ is being felt keenly by employers. The panel is scheduled to take place from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. and will be moderated by TTCU Federal Credit Union SVP/Chief Human Resources and Learning Officer Celia Armstrong.
"Partnering with Green Country Workforce creates energy for collaboration, intelligence and delivery for the communities we serve,” Dean of NSU’s College of Extended Learning Dr. Eloy Chavez said. ‘As Steve Jobs said, ‘Great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people.’”
Interested participants can register for the event for a $75 fee which includes lunch.
To register for the conference and to review the itinerary and panel of experts slated
to present at the conference visit https://academics.nsuok.edu/