ST. PAUL, Minn.—The Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Community Advisors on Recruitment and Retention Solutions group marked its one year anniversary with a celebration on Nov. 13.

MnCARRS is a community partnership composed of Mn/DOT employees and community leaders representing minority communities, women, veterans and people with disabilities. The group was created to build recruitment partnerships between Mn/DOT and communities underrepresented in Mn/DOT’s workforce to assist the agency in recruiting and retaining qualified candidates from a variety of backgrounds.

“MnCARRS is a innovative way for Mn/DOT to build recruitment partnerships with Minnesota’s diverse communities and enrich our workforce,” said Emma Corrie, Mn/DOT’s recruitment programs manager. “Since the creation of MnCARRS one year ago, Mn/DOT has hired more than 30 employees statewide that were referred by MnCARRS members.”

“One of Mn/DOT’s key goals is to build lasting relationships within the various underrepresented communities that we serve,” said Eric Davis, Mn/DOT’s Human Resources director. “MnCARRS provides an opportunity for candidates to fill positions throughout the entire agency—not just engineering jobs or snowplow operator openings.”

MnCARRS members serve as recruiters within their own communities for Mn/DOT jobs. Since the group formed, members have attended career fairs, job information events and mock interview sessions at various locations. The group is involved in the entire continuum from recruitment—to selection—to mentoring individuals on the job after they are hired.

MNDot says the long term objective of this is to build recruitment partnerships with Minnesota’s diverse communities with an intent to grow the diversity of the applicant and hired pools for Mn/DOT jobs while in the short term is to Partner with communities to recruit and hire a qualied diverse group of candidates for the current 50+ open technician positions at Mn/DOT.