Despite snowy and cold weather, the Transportation Career Expo and Hiring event held at the Monticello Workforce Center in December was a success.

 

Tim Zipoy, business service specialist with Central Minnesota Jobs & Training Services (CMJTS) said there were 24 businesses and 92 job seekers in attendance on a day when many people avoided travelling because of the weather.

 

 “We were very happy with our turnout,” says Zipoy.

 

“No employers left early and we had job seekers the entire time,” says Leslie Wojtowicz, developoment manager at CMJTS.

 

The event was one in a series of targeted hiring events that focused on a specific industry. CMJTS had already hosted successful events on retail and healthcare.

 

Zipoy says its an idea employers liked.

 

“They know the people they were going to talk to were here because they were interested in something related to transportation and related occupations versus a larger job fair where they never knew who they were going to get,” he says.

 

For job seekers, there were more opportunities than just jobs as truck drivers. Employers were looking for mechanics, dispatchers, shipping and receiving personnel, sales and customer service people and distribution workers.

 

“We also had Transportation Center for Excellence for people to learn about training and funding opportunities,” says Zipoy.

 

Arfsten Transfer of Clearwater had a semi-tractor on site so people could see what the inside of one looked like. Zipoy recently learned Arfsten hired two people from the Expo and were working on a few more connections they made that day.

 

Zipoy says he spoke with a few business representatives and most made connections either with qualified employees or those who were interested in getting trained.

 

“It was a mixed bag of people looking to get into transportation careers or people already in and looking to move laterally or upward within these positions,” he says.

 

Each business was given a survey with questions about the event. Wojtowicz says so far, 13 have sent in their responses.

 

 “Of the 13 that were returned, four businesses have made hires, two said they have interviewed but not hired yet and everybody collected applications,” she says. “And all said they would do it again.”

 

Zipoy says the targeted events are working. Now he’s been mulling the idea of other events, possibly  one on social service/child care or skilled trade/construction.

 

No matter what the next one is, Zipoy believes the targeted events work.

 

“It’s a refined opportunity to know what businesses and job seekers are coming in for,” he says. “That’s the magic of the sector approach.”