Employers seek talent at fair

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On Thursday evening, 24 employers were meeting with potential job seekers at the Reiland Fine Arts Center on the campus of Jamestown College.

Employment opportunities ranging from part-time to new careers were available in everything from information technologies to agriculture.

National Information Solutions Cooperative, out of Mandan, N.D., was looking for full-time employees with a technology background as more openings keep coming up at NISC.

“For a while we saw a decline in people going into the computer science world, enrollment numbers at the colleges have dropped,” said Jamie Remboldt, programing manager and NISC in Mandan. He said he does feel that will change in a few years with more students trying for a degree in computer science.

The company is a rural technology provider to electric cooperatives and telephone companies.

“We provide software solutions to them that they couldn’t provide on their own,” Remboldt said.

Two of the five openings in Mandan were directly related to software, and other openings were for summer internships.

Briana Edwards, a JC May graduate, was back with the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation as a correctional officer II with the James River Correctional Center, trying to get paid interns.

Edwards said JRCC does have one opening but there are plenty more in Bismarck at the North Dakota State Penitentiary in a variety of positions.

Openings include corrections officers, education opportunities, treatment coordinator and in nursing.

At the JRCC, numerous college students intern for experience in positions each summer, and applicants for internships are sought after this year, she said.

A degree isn’t necessary in the DOCR but it does help, Edwards said.

“If you want to promote in the DOCR you need to have a two-year degree,” she said. A four-year degree will allow for more mobility, she said.

Some employers were seeking interns and temporary employees.

RealTruck.com, based in Jamestown, was at the fair looking for three paid interns for this coming summer.

“We’re a fast-growing company,” said Lucy Geigle, human resources administrator. “We want to contribute to the community.”

Ag World Support Systems Service was also looking for an intern, the first ever the company has hired in Jamestown. It also has an information technology opening in Washington state.

AWSS is an independent third party inspection service that works on farms and French fry plants to inspect the quality of potatoes, before and after the fryer, to determine the price the farmer receives. It’s is paid for half by the farmer and half from the company for any particular batch of potatoes.

Temporary summer workers and an intern with computer skills were sought on Thursday by AWSSS.

“Every August we’re always looking for temporary employees,” said Tim Friez, Midwest area manager for AWSSS.

AWSSS has Cavendish Farms as a client. Cavendish was located a few booths over and in search of three interns and 15 entry-level jobs in the processing plant.

“Unemployment is so low that there are not a lot of people to pick from,” said Becky Kerscher, human resources administrator with Cavendish.

Another agricultural-industry employer, Dakota Growers Pasta Co., a subsidiary of Viterra, had nine separate openings for the pasta plant in Carrington, as well as paid internship opportunities.

Openings required a variety of experience from work experience to two-year degrees.

“Due to the fact that Carrington is in a more rural area, it’s harder to attract workers, also the oil field is having an impact,” said Brian Hall, human resource specialist with Viterra.

Sun reporter Ben Rodgers can be reached at 701-952-8455

or by email at brodgers@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local news, news, jobs