Mark Funkhouser is infuriated over jobs leaving Kansas City and moving to Kansas.

Mark Funkhouser says he is infuriated over companies leaving Kansas City and moving to the Kansas side. He blames the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce...yikes. He blames the PEAK program which gives incentives for businesses to relocate to Kansas. He blames Jefferson City, and he blames (do you see a pattern here yet?) everyone but himself.

Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch (Come on, Come on, Swing it!), need to decide if keeping jobs and companies in Kansas City is a priority. If it is, then compete. Don't go blame everyone else under the sun because you have problems that need fixing. Get off your tail piece and do something. Being infuriated or saying that Kansas taking your jobs is "nuts" doesn't help anything. If you are getting your azz kicked by Kansas, then fight back! If Mark Funkhouser's biggest 'hmmmpf' is to tell Kansas that after they pick off all your big companies and move them to the Kansas side (like AMC), that they will realize that the money they spent to lure those companies to Kansas would have been better spent on schools and infrastructure, then you have been wussified and shouldn't be mayor.

I am pretty sure the revenue cities will generate from the newly poached companies from Missouri will help pay for education and infrastructure in their state while you letting them go to Kansas because you don't have a testicle left to fight with will shrink your budget and make your pot holes bigger. Quit crying about your problems to your wife and the rest of us. Quit expecting someone else to solve your problems. Get out there and do the things that need to be done to give incentives to either keep companies in Kansas City or even better, steal them from Kansas!

Kansas City Economy Continues to Struggle

Recent reports indicate that while the US economy is slowly getting better, Kansas City is still struggling. Employment is down by 1.4% compared to last year, andthere are more active job seekers as a whole. The report did indicate that experts expect job prospects to improve soon, so hopefully we see a rebound in the near future.

While Kansas City is struggling, some cities nearby are doing well. Both Manhattan, KS and St. Joesph, MO have seen an increase in employment. The demographics of Kansas City could be to blame, or it could merely be a coincidence that these other areas are improving. However, it seems odd that smaller cities are getting better while the area with the most jobs and job opportunities continues to struggle.

The Dallas-Fort Worth, TX area, Boston, MA and Austin, TX had the best improvement in the nation. It is important for Kansas City to examine how these cities have created job and fought unemployment rates. The ratio of job-seekers and open jobs continues to be extreme in Kansas City, and soon residents of the city may have to check out greener pastures elsewhere.

Jobs in Kansas City - Tips for landing a good job in Kansas City

Jobs in Kansas City are very attainable if you apply yourself and take the necessary steps to land one.

One path that I found successful was to get signed on with a Temporary Agency. There are several in the Kansas City area including Kelly Services, probably one of the oldest and trusted temporary agencies in the country. Kelly has many Kansas City jobs available for applicants with the right qualifications. What I really liked about Kelly Services (and I think that most temp services offer this) was the training service. There are several different computer programs out there that are useful to employers, and the more of these programs you can master, the more jobs you are qualified for. Programs that are useful are Microsoft Office products, Adobe products, and specialized software programs that may relate to your area of job expertise. Kelly will test you on the various computer programs to see how well you know each program, however the cool thing is that if you are struggling on any of the programs they have training programs that will help you to score better on their tests.

College - if you went to college then you probably already have an area of expertise and may be familiar with and can pigeon hole your job opportunities accordingly. For instance if you have college experience in accounting, you might want to go directly to Accountemps in Kansas City to begin your journey. If you did not attend college do not lose hope, you can easily learn any or all of the computer programs required to land any of the great Kansas City jobs that are out there waiting for you. Check in to a temporary agency and start training. I would just ask them outright what jobs are the most readily available and just train towards getting that job. A lot of times it doesn't matter where you start in a company, if you can get a job a good company you can work your way laterally to another department within the company and eventually move up in that department. For instance, I started in the Claims department of a Kansas City health care company and I eventually gained the experience necessary to move to the more lucrative Accounting department. For the record, my college experience didn't really have much to do with my entry into the company, nor my success within the company later on.

The Bottom Line
Go to a temporary agency, score well on their placement tests, get sent out on temporary job assignments, find a company on an assignment that you like, let them know that you are interested in becoming a permanent employee, watch the available job listings within that company and apply for a permanent job. If you have done well as a temporary employee then odds are you will be hired on as a permanent employee. At that time you can look for opportunities within the company to move up, etc.

The temporary agency is a great way to start because they are basically looking for jobs for you, and they have better access to the good jobs because the big companies in Kansas City use temporary agencies constantly to fill positions. The other major advantage to starting out in a temporary agency is that they will send you out to work (temporarily, of course) at several different companies, and you get a chance to look at the company from the inside, making it easy to find a company that you would like to work for.

This is how I landed a great job in Kansas City, I hope this was helpful to any of you that are out there struggling to land one of the wonderful Kansas City jobs that are out there waiting for you right now! Good luck on the job hunt.

Kansas City Jobs - Kansas City Unemployment Rate

Kansas City jobs are out there - but there are also lions, tigers and bears waiting in the woods waiting to pounce on unsuspecting (and inexperienced) kc job hunters.

Two websites to stay away from are www.monster.com and www.careerbuilder.com


Both of these websites are filled with scam artists trying to get you to sign up for a "3 week training program" before you can start working when in actuality that's how the entire company makes money - by charging you to take their 3 week training program. Ever see those commercials on "how to make money from home" - I'm probably telling you something that you already know but SELLING THOSE VIDEO TAPES AND BOOKS ARE HOW THOSE COMPANIES MAKE THEIR MONEY. If the system that they're selling you worked so well, why in the hell would they want to share it? It's the same with the "career building" companies on Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com - they make money by selling you training programs.

On the brighter side of things, here are some real resources for finding jobs in Kansas City and lowering the kc unemployment rate:

KMBC JOB FAIRS - this site about Kansas City job fairs lists several job fairs and employment opportunities in the kc area daily.

The Kansas City Star - Job Finder - this site lets you enter search information based upon the kind of Kansas City job you are looking for.

Also, if you feel the need to be "trendy" about your unemployment, you can follow in the footsteps of a local William Jewell (band camp college) student who invented cute little wrist bands (like we needed another one of those) that simply state "hire me". To order one of these desperate cries for help email jobclub@wjc-sife.org