Even with North Dakota's low unemployment rates, job fair participation on rise

GRAND FORKS — With the unemployment rate at a scant 1.7% statewide and 1.6% in Grand Forks County recently, job fairs don’t seem as though they would be big drawing cards.

A Jan. 18 North Dakota statewide virtual job fair proved otherwise. The event drew 97 employers and 634 attendees. More than 1,300 had registered for the event.

“That’s a huge jump from our last statewide virtual job fair in February,” said Dusty Hillebrand, Workforce Center manager for Job Service in Grand Forks.

Last year’s event had 445 registrants and about 300 attendees. This year’s event was far from a North Dakota-only affair. People registered from 21 countries and 16 U.S. states. In fact, while 57.6% of the attendees were from the United States, 38.3% were from the Philippines.

That helps explain why so many people attended.

“They see an opportunity that’s out there for them,” Hillebrand said of the North Dakota job fairs. “One of things that really stands out is that North Dakota is a draw for folks who are looking for employment, not only from within the states but outside the country.

“When you have that many folks from different countries looking, they want to be here.”

Among the employers who attended the statewide job fair last month were from such industries as transportation, health care, IT, engineering, unmanned and autonomous systems, education, government, oil, gas and skilled trades.

“The virtual fair features high-paid, high-demand, high-growth industries in North Dakota,” Hillebrand said.

Some attendees are looking for a career change. Others want to move to North Dakota or challenge themselves to reach a different level of income.

Hillebrand said he visited with a recruiter from the statewide virtual fair who talked about meeting a person who was interested in a job but never received responses when they sent in a resume to the company.

The person was from out of state, but the virtual job fair allowed for a face-to-face meeting with a company representative.

“The recruiter who was at the job fair let her HR department know that the person’s stuff would be coming in and to keep an eye out for that,” Hillebrand said.

Patience apparently paid off. Hillebrand said he believes the company is hiring the person.

Others were hired, too.

Still more will be contacted by employers they didn’t even talk with at the virtual job fair. That’s because Job Service searched resumes of attendees and sent information to employers who might be looking for someone with their background.

“We’re sending that information out to employers for the possibility of making a connection,” Hillebrand said.

The statewide virtual job fair and the large spring in-person job fairs at the Grand Forks Alerus Center, which will be held April 11 this year, are the most highly attended by area job-seekers.

A smaller job fair is held on the first Wednesday of every month at the Job Service office in Grand Forks. Workforce Wednesdays run from 3-5 p.m. At the January meeting, about 15 businesses and 30 job-seekers attended.

“Each month it seems to be growing a little bit,” Hillebrand said. “We had people waiting in our lobby to talk with employers.”

Hillebrand said the smaller setting works well.

“We can do a little bit of hand-holding,” he said. “We can walk people over to an employer. It’s not quite as intimidating. It’s more intimate and people really seem to like that.”

Kevin Fee is a freelance reporter for the Herald.