×

Employers struggle to find workers

News photo by Crystal Nelson Lisa Anderson, human resources coordinator for Northeast Michigan Community Mental Health, works at her desk Friday at the health center’s Johnson Street office.

ALPENA — Employers in Northeast Michigan are having a difficult time recruiting and retaining employees to fill vacant positions, local employment experts and human resource professionals said.

Indicative of the problem, three job applicants didn’t show up for scheduled interviews on Friday, Lisa Anderson, human resources manager for Northeast Michigan Community Mental Health, said.

Anderson said that, since CMH began advertising openings online, she will receive a lot of applications, but those applicants aren’t engaged in the hiring process. She said applicants often won’t respond when she reaches out.

“We serve such a vulnerable population, and the people that we serve need people to care for them,” she said.

Those difficulties affect CMH services. Anderson said that, when CMH is short-handed, employees work longer shifts, making them more tired, so their personalities might not be as engaging.

Pamela Richards, with Star Staffing, said it’s becoming more common for businesses to reach out to her agency for assistance finding people to fill upper-level positions.

“Our customers are counting on us to do the leg work, because we have had to bring potential employees into the Alpena area from other parts of the state,” she said.

Employers are also trying to find applicants from a smaller pool of potential candidates. Alpena County’s unemployment rate was 4.8% in August, according to the most recent state figures. Of the county’s total work force, 637 people were unemployed and looking for work, as of August.

Alpena Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jackie Krawczak said the workforce has been the number-one issue facing businesses in the last few years.

“They struggle to find qualified workers with the skills necessary for the available jobs, and, in some cases, they struggle to find workers willing to do the work,” she said.”It’s not an issue facing just Northeast Michigan, but is really an issue across the entire state and beyond. Our counterparts at the Northern Michigan Chamber Alliance see the same issue within their memberships.”

Krawczak said the most difficult jobs to fill seem to be technical skills positions, transportation jobs, and middle management.

Northeast Michigan’s job market “fluctuates between an unskilled workforce and an over-skilled workforce,” said Nichole Keyes, business solutions professional and apprenticeship success coordinator with the Michigan Works! Northeast Consortium. “A lot of it has to do with pay and lack of benefits, so people are doing a lot of job-hopping. Most of the hiring in the area is part-time, and people are hoping to get full-time.”

Employers have had to adapt to the changing job market.

Anderson said that, unlike years ago, CMH has had to keep its wages competitive with retail stores such as Walmart or Meijer or even some of the big-name pharmacies.

Because CMH works with mental health patients, Anderson said, the business does a lot of training after employees are hired. She said the agency has collaborated with Alpena Community College and Thunder Bay Community Health Service to allow some employees to become certified as a community health worker.

Keyes said there had been such a big push for a college education in past years that schools placed less emphasis on skilled trades. She said Michigan Works! is trying to start a pre-apprenticeship program locally to help connect people with on-the-job training.

Alpena Public Schools and other area districts are building their career technical education programs after receiving a $1.95 million state grant late last year.

“You don’t necessarily have to be a fresh high school graduate to get in these jobs,” she said. “You can be a middle-aged worker, you can be a minority worker, you can be a woman, and these things are OK. I think we need to change our mindset in northern Michigan from where we’ve been for so long and let people know change is OK. Education in a different light would be good for our area.”

Crystal Nelson can be reached at 989-358-5687 or cnelson@thealpenanews.com.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today