NOTEBOOK: Some labor shortage takeaways from a Newton job fair
BPC Staff Dec 20, 2021 | 4:20 pm
3 min read time
651 wordsAll Latest News, Business Record Insider, Economic Development, HR and Leadership, The Insider NotebookThe banner behind Firestone Agricultural Products’ display at the bustling job fair in Newton spoke volumes about the current job market: “$3,000 sign-on bonus in first year.”
“We can’t make enough [tires] right now,” said Ron Matthews, plant manager of the Bridgestone Des Moines Ag Tire Plant. The company is ramping up production amid increased global demand for agricultural tires, and currently has about 70 open positions to fill at the plant. Some of the openings are due to attrition from retiring employees, Matthews said. Bridgestone recently increased its sign-on bonus, with payouts each quarter over the first year to encourage workers to stay, he said.
Bridgestone was among about 130 employers from across the state represented at an IowaWORKS job fair held on the Newton campus of Des Moines Area Community College. To get a firsthand look at Central Iowa’s tight labor market, I attended the final morning of the job fair on Dec. 10, which was the last of three half-day sessions.
Organized to assist the approximately 700 employees of Newton-based wind blade manufacturer TPI Composites, the event was the first large in-person job fair that IowaWORKS has held since the pandemic began a year and a half ago, said Lacie Westendorf, a program coordinator for IowaWORKS Cedar Valley.
By midmorning that Friday, 80 job seekers had already signed in, she said, and about 100 people had attended each of the two prior sessions. “It’s a great turnout — our employers are super-happy,” Westendorf said. To be able to accommodate all the employers that wanted to participate, the normally single-day event was split into three sessions, with about 45 different companies at each session. A number of the job seekers attended all three sessions to be able to talk with employers at each, Westendorf said.
At Vermeer Corp.’s table, Emily Van Zante, a talent acquisition specialist, was busy fielding questions from experienced TPI production employees along with other Vermeer representatives. The Pella-based manufacturer currently has more than 120 open positions posted on its website.
“We are seeing lots of different skill sets,” Van Zante told me. “People who are interested in assembly and welding and forklift operators and just a large variety of skill sets — which is great, because we can take those skill sets and move them into different disciplines at Vermeer.”
A number of applicants said they’re willing to learn new types of positions, which works well with the training programs that Vermeer has established in a number of disciplines, including assembly, welding, machining and painting, she said.
One of the TPI workers that I spoke with said he’s gone through this type of mass layoff before, when Maytag folded up its manufacturing operations in Newton. Kelvin Schultz, a Newton resident, had worked for Maytag for 21 years, but also has done electrical work as well as welding, painting and auto body shop work. He had worked for TPI for 11½ years.
“I’m just trying to find the right job that I can fit into and start out at a fairly good wage so that I don’t have to start all over at the bottom of the ladder,” he said. “What helps right now is with all the hiring bonuses and the other benefits they’re giving out, that’s going to be a big plus.”
When he was laid off from Maytag, it took him two months to find a position with a body shop in Newton. He’s hoping it’s faster this time around.
“That’s the bad part — going through it a second time,” he said. “I was hoping that I would be able to retire before this happened. … What’s really encouraging with all of my abilities, I don’t think I’ll be off for very long anyway. I’ve always been the kind of person that if I want something, I go after, because you can’t sit around waiting for somebody to bring it to you.”