PCDC Collects Data to Help Employers Find Workers

Area employers are getting creative with workforce recruitment strategies, and PCDC is helping by providing data and organizing a social media campaign in targeted geographic areas.

PCDC just finished a social media campaign using data compiled by NPPD that identified the Top 10 Recruitment Counties based on workers and wage differences.

The report identified counties with 100 or more jobs and residents working in occupations with average earnings less than Phelps County. The report was specifically created to help with workforce recruitment at BD and Briggs & Stratton/Allmand, but it can help other employers as well.

The NPPD report recommended that the Holdrege manufacturers seek employees in the following areas: Iola, Great Bend, Winfield, Girard, Abilene, Hays, Garden City, Dodge City, Emporia, Independence, Norton, Lyndon, Phillipsburg, Hutchinson, Russell and Smith Center in Kansas; Lexington, Cozad, Wahoo, Grand Island, Hastings and North Platte in Nebraska; and Durango, Montrose, Sterling and Fort Morgan in Colorado.

PCDC launched a Facebook campaign in those towns that reached more than 3,100 people in early August. The campaign featured Phelps Memorial Health Center, Briggs & Stratton/Allmand and BD under the title “Grow With 37, Holdrege Employers are Hiring Now.”

“Due to a variety of factors, including favorable wage disparities in many cases, we believe employers can have success in attracting candidates from these areas,” PCDC Executive Director Ron Tillery said.

Tillery encouraged employers to follow up with their own marketing in those areas and to reach out to community colleges.

“Each of the Kansas markets has a community college (most) and we’d encourage employers to establish lines of communication with their outplacement offices,” Tillery said. “Get information in front of students.”

For instance, Hutchinson, Kan., is the home of several manufacturers, including Jayhawk Manufacturing (industrial stone mills), American Packaging (industrial boxes), Seat King (seating for industrial machines like lawnmowers), Lowen Corporation (signs) and Collins Bus Corp. (commercial busses). The town also has a community college with 3,500 students.

Briggs & Stratton/Allmand

In early August, Allmand was seeking to fill 11 salaried positions and 10  hourly positions in a variety of jobs ranging from assembly, painting, welding and fabrication.

Human Resources Manager Cheryl Delehant said they have applied a variety of recruitment methods ranging from job fairs, social media, radio, newspaper, billboards, digital ads and more.

They have been mainly seeking employees within local and surrounding areas for the hourly jobs and across the United States for the salaried positions in engineering and management.

For more information about careers at Briggs & Stratton/Allmand, visit https://careers.basco.com.

Phelps Memorial Health Center

Phelps Memorial Health Center was seeking to fill about 10 positions in early August in both clinical and non-clinical areas. They had entry-level and professional-level openings.

Holly Rahman, Director of Marketing and Business Development at PMHC, said they undertake many strategies for recruitment.

“Our standard go-to is social media, but we have also been using radio ads, Google ads and position-specific recruiting websites as well,” she said. “We do plan on attending career fairs this fall.”

Rahman said the hospital has had good luck with Google ads and Facebook ads.

“We also offer an employee referral incentive, which helps get the word out as well,” she said.

The hospital focuses its recruitment efforts in south-central Nebraska. However, HR staff branches out to schools in Kearney, Grand Island, Lincoln and North Platte when seeking more specialized positions, such as in Laboratory.

For more information about jobs at Phelps Memorial Health Center, visit https://www.phelpsmemorial.com/health-center/careers.

BD

Holdrege’s largest employer, BD, is also seeking to hire a number of employees. BD has more than 30 positions open including hourly positions and salaried positions such as engineers, a financial analyst and management jobs.

BD has advertised also in a variety of ways, including billboards and newspaper/radio advertisements in surrounding towns and offers a hiring bonus.

All BD jobs, including part-time weekend shifts, have full benefits including medical, dental, life, insurance, 401K, retirement, and paid time off.

Besides collecting helpful data, PCDC is also helping area employers in their recruitment efforts through GO! HOME relocation assistance grants. PCDC matches up to $2,500 in grants paid by employers for home downpayment assistance. PCDC also offers a $500 match for new employees seeking places to rent in Phelps County.

For job openings at BD, visit https://jobs.bd.com/location/holdrege-jobs.