The 12th Annual Central Minnesota Job Fair had a better turnout than expected, as 89 businesses and 472 job seekers turned out last Thursday at Monticello High School.

That was up from last year, when 75 businesses and about 440 people showed up. 

It’s a sign the economy and job market is improving. Two years ago, only 38 businesses attended the event.

“I think those are good numbers, and I’d like to see even more,” said Tim Zipoy with Central Minnesota Jobs & Training Services. “We saw a variety of the labor market, and there were people looking for blue collar jobs, white collar jobs, no collar jobs, first jobs, next jobs and last jobs.”

There were hundreds of jobs available in all different lines of work. Some companies had been there before, others were new to the fair.

“I’m looking for dedicated, energetic people to expand my business,” said Deb Johnson, ower of Debbie’s Cleaning Service in Big Lake.  

 

Her company provides cleaning services for homes and businesses within a 40-50 mile radius of Big Lake.

 

Becker Furniture World was there again, offering a number of opportunities.

 

“We opened four new locations since last year,” said payroll administrator Tammi Arenkiel.

 

The company was looking to fill processing and warehousing positions as well as cashiers and salespeople at every location.

 

Zipoy said he had a chance to speak with quite a few businesses during the event.

 

“I heard comments from business leaders that there was a better quality of applicants here,” he said. “And Joan Berning, regional manager with DEED, stopped by for the first time and had some nice comments.”

 

Cargill was at the event for the first time. In the past, they used an employment agency to find applicants, but switched to direct-hire last June.  They were there looking for food handlers, housekeeping people and maintenance workers.

 

“I talked with Jill (Spohn, recruiter) at Cargill,” said Zipoy. “She was glad to be there. I noticed she had people talking with her pretty steadily throughout the day.”

 

Zipoy said he didn’t find out whether they filled the positions they were trying to fill. But he’ll be sending out post-event surveys to all the businesses who attended, asking about the number of conversations, job offers, overall thoughts on the event and whether they liked the 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. hours.

 

Zipoy said the timing seemed to work. The goal was to stay open late enough for people to attend after their job.

 

“I saw a definite turnover at the latter part of the event. It looked to me like there were commuters who stopped by after work,” he said. “I saw couples with babies, which tells me they had gone to work, come home, got the kid and came to the job fair. To me that’s exactly what we were after.”

 

He said having 89 businesses was very different from previous years. Some booths were lined up in the side hallways. 

 

“We even had to turn down a few. The phone kept ringing,” he said. “But that’s a good indication that there are jobs available closer to home.”

 

If the economy keeps improving in the future, organizers might have to reconsider whether to turn businesses down or move the event to a bigger space.

 

“Let’s hope it comes to that some day, because that would be a good thing as far as how many great jobs there are for the people who live here,” said Zipoy.

 

“That would be a good problem to have.”