You might think finding a first job as a police officer wouldn’t be that hard.

Rachel Mitchell found out otherwise.

It was 2012, and the new graduate from North Carolina’s Elon University had realized while studying journalism and criminal justice that she wanted to be a police officer.

“I applied all over,” said Mitchell, a Delaware native. “I was not really ‘in the know’ about how hard it was to get a police job, especially when you don’t have family in law enforcement.”

The job search led to all kinds of short-term roles – from waitressing to working a brief stint as a corrections officer in a prison to the district attorney’s office in Philadelphia, where she worked two years as a paralegal and realized “I definitely still wanted to work in law enforcement.”

By then, in a bigger city, she was able to land a job in 2016. She started on bike patrol right out of the academy and then moved to an area of the city known as “the heroin capital of the country,” she said. “So we were right in the midst of the opioid epidemic as fentanyl was coming out and people were getting hard with it.”

But last year, she was working in West Philadelphia when the need to make a change hit.

“Obviously, the whole world has kind of been under a lot of stress with the COVID pandemic, and I looked around at who was handling the response well and who was handling it poorly,” she said. “For a lot of people, their quality of life depends on their ability to move about freely and go to work and provide for their families, and I saw the impact of some of the restrictions people struggled with.”

It hit especially close to home.

“My mom lost her small business due to COVID because she lives in a place where restrictions kept her business closed so long she wasn’t able to come back from it,” Mitchell said.

“I was a front-line worker and worked the whole time, but I saw what it did to people who were crushed by serious restrictions. So my husband and I started looking for where we could relocate where there’s strong local leadership and support for law enforcement from the community and government.”

The search led her to Sioux Falls, where she didn’t know anyone but found the Sioux Falls Police Department willing to work through the hiring process with her.

“They made it really nice and easy for me because I lived so far,” Mitchell said. “They consolidated all my testing into one week because I wasn’t sure I could swing it flying out more than once. So it was perfect because I was able to come out here in January and had my testing in the morning, and when it was done, we still had the night to explore the town and drive around and look at apartments and go out to eat and interact with people and see if it was a community where we could see ourselves moving.”

You read that right: They visited in January.

“Overall, there are so many little things people probably take for granted, like not having much traffic, and I know I haven’t hit the winter, but the weather’s been good so far,” Mitchell said.

“I just feel like the environment overall is extremely easygoing, and it’s very refreshing coming from a hustle-and-bustle environment in a huge city where everyone is rushing and honking at each other and not really concerned about the person on their left or their right.”

People like Mitchell “are a home run for public safety in Sioux Falls,” Mayor Paul TenHaken said.

“They’ve already made a commitment to a law enforcement career; they just need to find a home where they can do that job well and an environment that will support and equip them. It’s great to see the number of law enforcement professionals that are reaching out to our department and want to make Sioux Falls their home.”

The city has seen more out-of-state recruits than anytime in the past, he added.

“From a recruiting standpoint, these officers come into our department with reciprocity and make the training and orientation process quicker and easier because of the skills they bring to the job day one,” TenHaken said.

“This community has always been a strong supporter of law enforcement, and we’re certainly seeing that in our out-of-state recruitment numbers right now.”

Now, that Mitchell is an official member of the Sioux Falls Police Department, she said she’s feeling support inside and outside of her workplace.

“It just seems both the community and the people that work within our department have our best interest in mind, which is huge,” she said. “I would say a lot of people who work in other departments, especially in big metropolitan cities, can’t say the same thing. From what I’ve gathered here, people want to come to work to do the right thing and have each other’s backs and keep the community safe, which is the whole point of policing.”

Her husband, Justin, who has a background both in teaching special education and managing a butcher shop, was recently hired by Look’s Marketplace.

“And he’s very happy there,” she said. “We went to dinner there, and he asked if they were hiring because he had worked at a similar place back home, and all they asked was if he needed another week to settle in.”

The couple’s experience is increasingly common in the Sioux Falls area, said Denise Guzzetta, vice president of talent and workforce development at the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.

“We are seeing one spouse attracted to our city by a fantastic career opportunity, and the next thing you know, the other spouse also has found an incredible next career move,” she said. “And they both find they absolutely love the lifestyle and the community support here.”

That’s definitely been the case for the Mitchells.

“Here, I just get more of a community vibe,” she said. “People interact even if they don’t know each other, and they’re overall more kind and definitely more happy. It just seems like a more warm environment than where I was living. That type of lifestyle wears on you over time. So it’s super refreshing to come to a place where people are happy to get up and go to work every day and spend time with their families. People overall seem more grateful for what they have here.”

To get connected to the Sioux Falls Police Department, click here. 

Terrie Christensen and her husband, Alan, found their new Sioux Falls home thanks to family and a video call.

“We bought this house sight unseen,” Terrie Christensen said.

“We knew the housing market was tight, and his niece was a big help. We bought a house in her neighborhood, and we did the whole video thing, which worked very well. So we wrote the offer and had it submitted, and we were one of five, but ours got accepted.”

That was in September 2020, after the Christensens had decided to move from Wisconsin to be closer to Alan’s family.

While he’s retired, Terrie is beginning a job search in Sioux Falls as she winds down her role as an office manager for a structural steel fabricator in Wisconsin. With experience in accounting and human resources and a background in consulting, in addition to overall office management, she already has seen opportunities in Sioux Falls.

“I’m a point where I don’t have to work, but I want to work, and that makes the job search a little different,” she said.

“I decided it was time to start putting feelers out there, so I put my information on Indeed and updated LinkedIn, and I had a phone interview a few days later and a couple other responses, so I’m not worried about finding something. There’s a lot I could do.”

The Christensens’ situation is similar to many at or near retirement who are relocating to Sioux Falls, said Denise Guzzetta, vice president of talent and workforce development for the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.

“Sioux Falls is consistently ranked among the top places in the nation to retire, and we see many seniors moving here to take advantage of that,” she said.

“At the same time, you definitely do not have to retire once you arrive. Terrie will discover, like many others have, that there are so many job opportunities whether you’re looking for an encore career, a part-time role or even a rewarding chance to volunteer.”

In 2020, Forbes ranked Sioux Falls among the top 25 cities for retirees after comparing data on 750 cities and looking at factors such as cost of living and health care facilities. The city got high marks for the number of physicians, good air quality and no state income tax.

“Not only are you moving to a safe community with short commutes and many housing options, but the medical care is second to none, and the factors such as our parks and downtown are as appealing to seniors as any other generation,” Guzzetta said.

That has been the case for the Christensens. While they had visited family in Sioux Falls before moving, they’re just now getting a firsthand look at life in the city.

“We’re in a really nice neighborhood in southwest Sioux Falls that’s five minutes off the interstate, so you can get anywhere in 15 minutes. They did a good job laying out a whole loop around Sioux Falls,” she said.

Watching the news is “so boring,” she joked.

“There’s not four or five shootings and robbers and people running from the cops. All they talk about is the coronavirus.”

Growing up in Iowa, she compares Sioux Falls to the kind of place she was used to – large enough to offer a lot without being overwhelming.

“It has everything we need,” she said. “Top medical facilities in the nation, and we’re kind of foodies, so we like to go out to eat, and we like the trendy microbreweries and wineries. We hung out downtown, and it’s very nice. I would say it’s very comparable to the Milwaukee area, just with semipro instead of pro sports.”

Other seniors have shared similar impressions, Guzzetta said.

“They also find it’s easy to become connected and make new friends here,” she said. “It’s a very neighborly place, there are so many organizations you can join, and you’ll quickly feel part of the community. We encourage anyone of any age considering a move to reach out to us so we can offer all the resources available to you.”

Considering a move to Sioux Falls? Click here to get connected to the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.

With more than 1,300 employees, the city of Sioux Falls ranks among the largest employers in the community.

And the organization, like many, is striving to be an employer of choice.

“We need to be looking at culture and engagement in the same way the private sector does to stay competitive and also to be a role model in the community,” said Rana DeBoer, the chief culture officer for the city of Sioux Falls.

“Everyone wants to be a part of something that’s bigger than themselves; that’s what makes work great. Organizations with a positive workplace culture are shown to have engaged employees who feel respected and valued.”

A big key to that is mentoring. The city recently started an employee mentoring program called The Path focused on providing support for career and personal development.

“Our approach to this program will allow employees to learn from and support each other, and the program is wide-reaching,” Mayor Paul TenHaken said.

“For example, new employees will be matched with a mentor, newly promoted leaders will have the same from a peer mentor, and our leadership development programs always include a mentor match. We have seen a great response already from employees and are in the process of launching our first mentorship cohort.”

The hope is to instill a “mentoring mindset,” in the city’s culture, he said.

“It’s the right approach to communicating and collaborating effectively with our residents. And when that happens, we are able to best help create a high quality of life with our residents. So we just keep fostering it in our daily work while holding ourselves accountable to it through our core values and impactful programming like The Path.”

And the city is measuring its success, TenHaken said.

Employee engagement scores as tracked digitally have shown steady improvement and are at a high of 8.1 out of 10.

“We’ve also seen our nonretirement retention rate improve. We are right in the middle of some heavy work on recruitment and establishing our brand as an employer to find and hire the right people for the work of public service,” he said.

Mayor TenHaken will share a look at the city’s approach to mentoring, both internally and in the community, at the June 22 Recruitment Council Networking Lunch organized by the Sioux Falls Development Foundation from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Washington Pavilion.

Workforce 101:  Learning How Mentoring Enables Talent Development and Retention is open to any business leader focused on workforce development.

“We’re very excited to welcome Mayor TenHaken and allow him to share more about the critical role mentoring plays as it relates to talent,” said Denise Guzzetta, vice president of talent and workforce development for the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.

“The city is a national leader in this regard, and so much potential still exists.”

The mayor will detail his Sioux 52 Mentoring Initiative at the event, which he said offers myriad benefits for business leaders.

“We are actively asking companies to embrace mentoring and motivate employees to participate through benefits like paid volunteer time off, which we have modeled the way by implementing at the city,” he said.

“And we’ve seen a great response from the community in stepping forward to make this commitment.”

In 2020, more than 250 individuals signed up to mentor, 30 businesses signed on to be business partners who are creating a culture of mentoring in service to the community, and 27 organization that administer mentoring programs joined the Sioux 52 Mentoring Initiative movement.

“We look forward to continuing the momentum we’re seeing around mentorship, especially going into the fall, which is a kickoff to many mentorship programs,” he said.

The pandemic has further shown the importance of culture and how important the leader’s role is in that, DeBoer added.

“We’ve been increasing the role of our leaders to be good coaches and mentors to strengthen relationships and foster high levels of trust,” she said. “We’ve always had a focus on employee well-being and especially so this past year. We’ve fine-tuned our well-being offerings and are ramping up on mental, physical and community well-being. We need to take care of each other; public service is hard work, and it’s critical we take care of our people at the same intensity we take care of service performance.”