A shortage of available workers in peak tourist seasons has prompted Cook County employers to become creative in seeking alternative ways to draw help to the area when it is most needed.
Efforts to shore up the problem began in earnest last fall when the government threatened to slow the J1 and H2B visa holders program.
With more than 80 percent of the county’s economy tourist-based, and with Cook County’s unemployment rate at 2 percent, these foreign workers have become vital to keeping businesses open and running smoothly. But what if they can’t come here to work?
What then?
Led by the Cook County Chamber of Commerce, a six-month pilot project was formed to see if workers from other places in the United States could be recruited to work in the county.
A small group of Chamber members called the Plan B Steering Committee began work with Shawn Kerfoot of Sandstone, Minnesota on recruitment in areas where unemployment and under-employment are problems.
Kerfoot, who runs a traditional J1 visa employment service from Pine County, will recruit in two areas. One will be among Puerto Rican residents relocated to Florida because of Hurricane Maria. The second will be from east-central Minnesota where high school graduates who don’t want to move to the metro area might find working more pleasurable in a small town atmosphere.
Shawn, the daughter of former Gunflint Lodge owner Bruce Kerfoot, runs Kerfoot’s Foreign Student Program and is very familiar with Cook County.
For her services, Shawn is paid from a $10,000 Workforce Recruitment fund. That fund is generated by the Chamber from some West End employers to help get this effort off the ground.
Another person helping is Pamela Qujada, who is recruiting hospitality workers from Puerto Rico for employers in Cook County and having significant success.
Puerto Rico was chosen as a target because Hurricane Maria displaced so many hospitality workers. Pamela worked for Lutsen Mountains and AmericInn in Tofte as a J1 worker. She is now back in Peru and does her recruiting via email, phone, and Skype. Pamela is being paid from the same Workforce Recruitment fund as Shawn Kerfoot.
Other steps were taken by the Plan B Steering committee, including developing an online job board for Cook County employers that will allow employers to list job openings and enable potential workers to submit applications.
“Both Shawn Kerfoot and Pamela Qujada will be able to refer to the job board as they seek to recruit workers. The website is just in its beginning stages of development and may require a month or two before it comes online,” said Cook County Chamber Director Jim Boyd.
Another broader effort involves training and potentially keeping local young people here working in the county.
One of the significant areas of worker shortage is in culinary arts. Restaurants often have a tough time hiring trained chefs, cooks, and food preparation workers.
That shortage, in part, is caused by a lack of affordable culinary training opportunities. Boyd noted that two prominent Twin Cities culinary schools have closed because the cost of the training they provided was so high and the wages of the entry-level jobs that culinary graduates could get were so low that students shied away from the programs.
To fill this culinary training gap, the Chamber has brought together ISD 166, Cook County Higher Ed, the IRRRB and Hibbing Community College in a collaborative effort to offer culinary training at Cook County High School.
You may recall that when ISD 166 received voter approval for a bond issue several years ago, one item on the list for financing with those bonds was about $1.2 million in new culinary training space and equipment. The new equipment and facilities are scheduled to be ready for use by this fall.
And if everything goes as planned, in January Hibbing Community College will be offering a one-year certificate program in culinary arts at Cook County High School. The plan is that the students in this culinary program will be simultaneously put to work in the kitchens of local resorts and restaurants. “Our hope,” Boyd said, “is that these students will be able to leave their training program debt free or with a very low level of debt. And of course, we will encourage them to remain in Cook County and encourage county employers to hire them.
“This culinary program is incredibly exciting, and we can’t wait to see it actually launched in January 2019,” Boyd said. “All of the agencies involved are working diligently to make this program happen. This level of collaboration among so many agencies is extremely gratifying to see.”
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