Bismarck, North Dakota News

It's no secret that North Dakota's workforce is already stretched thin; with more jobs than workers and an aging baby boomer generation, nearly every industry is affected by the waning workforce.

Compound that slender workforce with a nationwide strain on licensed practical nurses, registered nurses and certified nursing assistants, and the Bismarck-Mandan area poses an obvious need for new ways for the cities' major employers to recruit and attract talent.

"Medical and human services are a huge industry in this city,"said Neal Charvat with Job Service North Dakota. "They have as hard a time finding people as anybody else."

There are a lot of players in the healthcare industry in Bismarck-Mandan. The two medical centers are the area's largest employers, trumped only by state government. That leaves slim pickings for smaller health services providers, who need to expand their recruiting practices to find and keep employees.

"In our community, with all the different businesses, there's so much competition for the worker,"said Patty Tangen, human resources director for Missouri Slope Lutheran Care Center. "We could always use more (workers)."

Tangen said they use traditional forms of advertising for positions. They go to universities, post on job sites. She noted that word-of-mouth tends to bring qualified candidates their way, too.

Recognizing the need to connect workers with employers, Charvat and other Job Service employees began to brainstorm for an annual medical and human services job fair for the area.

"The need is there,"he said. "We know a little bit about their businesses and their needs."

Job Service North Dakota already has two relatively successful fairs a year, a customer service-retail fair in the fall, and a construction industry fair in the spring.

This is the first time the agency has ever focused on a fair specifically designed to meet the needs of the health care industry in the area.

"It's not just nurses,"Charvat said. "We're looking for everything from cooks, janitors, clerical ... whatever they need."

The other two fairs draw in crowds of about 150 to 300 job-seekers, said Dan Schumacher with Job Service. Out of those job seekers, an average of about 40 people find employment through the fair.

Fourteen different medical or human services organizations will be represented at this new job fair; Charvat said he hopes to see about 200 job seekers come through the fair, which is scheduled from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Jan. 24 at the Job Service North Dakota building, 1601 E. Century Ave.

Janelle Frederick, employment coordinator at St. Alexius Medical Center, said they're looking to fill a variety of positions, from RNs, to clerical positions, to LPNs and CNAs.

"I have a lot of different opportunities available at the hospital," she said.

Her recruiting is particularly focused on finding licensed practical nurses.

"My efforts are out there right now to try to recruit them in our facility,"she said. "Where we see a shortage is in the LPNs. Part of that is because you could go one more year (in school)to get that RNdegree. That's why we see the shortage. They're not stopping."

Laurie Wetsch, a recruiter for Medcenter One, acknowledged that there is a national nursing shortage, but said their nursing positions are doing OK.

But they still have a need for recruitment, and the medical center wants to get out and meet some of the potential applicants face to face more often.

"We're excited to also go out and meet the public,"Wetsch said, referring to the job fair. "We accept our applications online, so we don't get that opportunity."

In the Bismarck-Mandan area, Job Service reports more than 100 positions open in the health care and technical support fields; of those, 70 are for RNs, 23 are for CNAs, and about 25 are for LPNs.

The need for workers is always there, Schumacher said. And it's not just for nurses, he added, but for all positions.

"It runs everywhere from LPNs to RNs to CNAs to dietary workers ... to youth facilities assistance people. Everything that has to do with that industry,"he said.

Coventry Healthcare, for example, is looking for a communications specialist. And Missouri Slope Lutheran Care Center has several part-time jobs to fill.

"We don't have lots of openings right now, but we still like to be in the mode of receiving applicants,"Tangen with Missouri Slope said.

(Reach reporter Crystal R. Reid at 250-8261 or crystal.reid@;bismarcktribune.com)