Job extravaganza may include 75 businesses
If you're looking for a job - or a change of pace in your career - Kalispell Center Mall is the place to be on Thursday.
Seventy-five or so employers will set up shop from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. to talk about their companies and interview applicants at the 2008 Employment Extravaganza.
They will have job descriptions, application forms and all information needed to hire employees.
Billed as the biggest employment event in the valley, it's expected to draw at least 1,500 job seekers.
"There's so much opportunity for everyone," event organizer Roberta Diegel said Monday. Diegel, a business services consultant at the Flathead Workforce Center (Job Service), was busy wrapping up last-minute details for the extravaganza organized by the work-force system's Community Management Team.
Job seekers with an agriculture background can check into money available for college. The U.S. Border Patrol will be on hand, groups associated with Glacier National Park will be there, Department of Natural Resources and Conservation is coming, and so are Montana National Guard Youth Challenge and Job Corps.
Some summer jobs are available but the lion's share, she said, are permanent positions.
Seventy-one employers had paid the $75 registration fee by the March 28 early registration deadline, but Diegel is prepared for last-minute sign-ups at the $100 regular registration fee rate.
It's worth every penny, she said.
"Just the bang for their buck" is motivation enough, she said. "They get a lot of exposure … If they went out and did it on their own, they would invest way more than $75."
The employment extravaganza was, in large part, Diegel's brainchild three years ago.
Columbia Falls High School counselor Doug Cordier had asked her to present a career-building session on resume writing, interviewing and general presentation to employers. It developed into a mini-job fair where students could put their knowledge to use, and 30 employers took part.
Diegel had a dream to expand it, so in 2007 she worked closely with DeAnn Thomas at Flathead High School's career center and got the Community Management Team in on the act.
There were 76 employers at last year's extravaganza and 1,500 job seekers, probably half of them from Flathead and Columbia Falls high schools.
"I had no idea we would have that kind of interest," Diegel said.
This year's interest promises to be at least as robust, with 700 or 800 expected from Flathead, Glacier and Columbia Falls high schools.
A year ago, the Job Service listed 350 job openings; this year there are 170. In all of Flathead County's job agencies combined, there were 472 job openings three years ago, 441 last year, and only 343 this year.
"But," Diegel said, "we have job seekers out there … A year ago, we had at this time in our database 3,560 people in Flathead County looking for work. This year, it is 5,247. That's a 32 percent increase."
And that's huge, she said, offering employers the freedom to be a little more selective in who they hire.
"Last year, we would have maybe two or three applicants for a job," she said. "And now I've seen up to 90 applicants for some positions. We haven't seen that many in five years."
Job seekers on Thursday will have a chance to walk away with something more than some job prospects.
Door prizes will include a compact laptop computer from Best Buy, an iPod and a $25 Kmart gift certificate.
To sign up for a booth, employers may call Diegel at 758-6273 or find the registration form online at www.employflathead.com