The wind and snow was definitely howling outside in Bemidji today, but that didn’t stop the most dedicated jobs seekers from attending the Bemidji Spring Regional Hiring Event.

“Having a job fair anytime of year is going to be important for our business community, but having a career fair during a time of low unemployment is really nice because career seekers get to come in and meet one-on-one, face-to-face with a variety of companies that are hiring,” says Deb Pfaff, the president of the Bemidji Area Chamber Of Commerce.

Bemidji is currently facing a worker shortage, so recruiting top talent to the area was the number one priority for a lot of employers. Delta Dental is not officially opening in Bemidji until later this year, but they have roles they’re looking to fill as soon as possible.

“We currently have three positions that we are looking to fill. We are looking for supervisory positions, we are looking for training and development positions, and we are also looking for some quality analyst positions, in addition to an HR generalist that we’re going to be hiring for the summer,” says Gretchen Knutson, the associate vice president of operations for Delta Dental.

It’s estimated that the room of the hiring event had more than 500 positions ready for hire. They ranged in variety of fields like health care, education, customer service and retail.

“We have local businesses like RP Broadcasting that are here along with Lueken’s Village Foods, Walmart is hiring right now, as is Norbord and Nortech,” says Pfaff.

Another big employer in the area is Leech Lake Gaming. Their newest casino is on schedule to open this summer.

Peter Paquette, Leech Lake Gaming Human Resources director, says, “Our target date is August. We’re kind of ahead of schedule now so things are going really well. It’s looking to bring, hopefully, right around 100 new jobs to the area. Many different types of positions are gonna be available. We’re really excited. It’s something that’s going really well.”

Many of the employers at the job fair will be accepting online applications. The Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce has compiled a list of all employers hiring in the area, which you can find here.

Delta Dental also plans to host their own hiring events throughout the summer.

By — Shirelle Moore