Starke County Employers ‘Desperate for Workers,’ According to Economic Development Foundation

Efforts continue to try to match high school seniors with local employers with positions to fill.

Ron Gifford with the Starke County Economic Development Foundation says the foundation recently teamed up with WorkOne to host a job fair. “This one was just for high school seniors,” he told the Hamlet Town Council Wednesday.

“We had them from North Judson, O-D, Knox, and Culver. We had 12 or 13 employers, a whole variety of employers, that were there. We had about 200 students go through that.”

He continued, “Some of them came with résumés. Some of them were dressed appropriately, to try to get a job, and we know that some people did get hired even as a result of that. So that’s good.” Gifford said this was the second year for the event.

He added that employers are getting desperate for workers. “I think you can go by about any industrial plant that we have in the county and there’s a sign out that says, ‘We’re hiring.’ So there’s jobs.”

In other business Wednesday, the Hamlet Town Council agreed to contribute $150 toward this summer’s Knox fireworks display, as it has for the past few years.