Thank you for choosing Granite Falls as your meeting location, it was great to host the statewide meeting of the Minnesota Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP) and hear about all your great projects in our area. 

We know that we live in a beautiful place with lots of activities to keep us busy. Potential employees that live in other areas or the metro need to be convinced of that to accept a job position in our area.  Recruitment is one of the biggest problems facing our employers.  Last week, I attended a seminar hosted by the Southwest Initiative Foundation addressing these problems.

There were many tips that employers can use in just forming the job description.  Especially, when recruiting millennials, the new employee wants to know more about the company and the potential for growth, company culture and untraditional benefits like being able to bring your pet to work or a volunteer program.  Many companies already have these programs but neglect to describe them on their website or in the job description. Social media is another wonderful way a company can describe its culture, show candid photos of employees at work and give the viewer an idea of what it’s like to work there.

Granite Falls Health  is a fitting example of this and they’re local. They have a Facebook page where they feature employees of the month, events at the Care Center as well as their job postings. Their job postings also describe their philosophy and mission. Facebook now has a jobs feature that’s free to use. If you just start typing in a post that mentions hiring or job, this will pop up and a form is there to fill out. Your job will then appear in the searchable jobs feature on Facebook. 

At the SWIF meeting, I also learned how to promote the job listing targeting potential employees in certain geographic areas. You can also narrow it down even more by looking at certain type of training, past experiences and those people who have been laid off a similar job. Posting videos of current employees describing the work environment and benefits is another terrific way to get your message out.  If you need help with any of these ideas, contact me at the chamber office. I have experience with targeting paid ads on Facebook, help with promoting your business or event, and help set up job postings.