Job Fair Was A Success

Details: Created on Wednesday, 13 May 2020 21:06; Written by Hailey Morgan

ST. JOHNSBURY - The May 11th Northeast Kingdom job fair was a success in the eyes of the organizers.

Heather Spinney, who works in human resources at Northern Vermont Regional Hospital feels strongly about creating workforce relationships within the community, so when Todd Gratton reached out to the hospital and asked them to participate in the Job Fair she thought it was a great way to tell their story out there to promote them as an employer in the community. "So I did not hesitate at all, and said yes absolutely."

She explained that the presentation she put together for the Job Fair was more focused on what life is like working at NVRH. Touching base on the different job options they have available to the community. "Went over the benefits, the application process, the hiring process." Along with the hospital's mission, with some background information on the positions they offer at the hospital.

This is not the first time that the hospital has done this kind of thing before. "We've done it with Norwich University this year as well when they switched from an in person job fair hiring event to a virtual one. We also do one with the American Nurses association as well." She expresses her hope for the community when she shares the hospital's story on how the work environment is like there.

"The different opportunities that are available, it's not just nurses and doctors. But there are a whole bunch of people that help those nurses and doctors make this hospital run. Wanting people to know that we are very involved in the community." She expresses how she believes it is a wonderful place to work, the focus on education is very important for them.

The opportunities the hospital has many different kinds of educational training, continuing lots of education opportunities. The hospital also has a nursing scholarship that says if you work for the hospital for over three years the students can apply for the scholarship that will help nursing students get their Bachelor of Science in Nursing, the hospital also has annual tuition reimbursement and student loan repayment. She shares that the presentation went really well over all.

Gratton shares that same opinion as he tells me how things went for Creative WorkForce Solutions on their end of the Job Fair. "I think our participants liked what happened, NVRH is an amazing partner with CWS. We had some good responses." Technology wise, Gratton thinks that despite the fact this was a new experience for them the group made the right choice in using the app Zoom. "Heather was amazing, her presentation was really good. Got a lot of good information out there, including the history of the hospital, the culture of the hospital, and the open positions at the hospital. But also traditional positions."

He says about ten people attended, and during the fair none left the virtual Job Fair. But he shares that the group had a meeting this morning on how they could improve things for next time. When it comes to reaching out to people, he thinks maybe a flyer or a youtube link to let people know how to use zoom. "I have been using Zoom for a month straight, so I'm pretty proficient. I think other people that are not as proficient, you know Zoom can be a hard platform to utilize. So we want to make sure technology is not a burden for anybody."