DENVER — Many businesses and companies across the state are on a hiring spree.
Currently, there are thousands of job openings throughout different industries, and many employers would like to fill those jobs before the holiday season begins.
The race is on to hire nearly 2,000 workers at King Soopers for the holiday season and beyond.
"We have plenty of people who came for that holiday job and they stayed for a career, and we also have a ton of people who come and they work while they're in college and then they leave and go on to a different career," said Jessica Trowbridge, corporate affairs manager for King Soopers and City Market.
Practically every position is available.
"If you're interested in working in produce or in the front end, as a cashier... We have openings in e-commerce. We even have department head and salary opening positions open and available as well," Trowbridge said.
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Across the state, similar hiring events are taking place. With so companies offering attractive benefits, it’s also creating a competitive job market.
"We pay $15.45 an hour to start. We have medical, dental, vision for specific positions," said Ian Ebersole, co-general manage for Bass Pro Shops in Denver. "We have a lot of good competitive benefits."
Bass Pro Shops is looking to hire more than 100 workers across the Front Range. In just one day of holding a hiring fair at their Denver store, they managed to hire about 15 people.
"It definitely increases the competition for sure, but this is a great place to work," Ebersole said. "So, we’re looking for the best people with the best attitudes and are friendly and they love the outdoors and they love to do what they sell."
Currently, Colorado’s unemployment rate sits at 5.9%, above the national rate.
Ryan Gedney, senior economist with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, says although there are many jobs out there, it could still take some time for all positions to be filled.
"There was a massive loss of employment in 2020, and it is going to take a while to really match all those types of jobs. We also have the impact of the pandemic, emergence of the delta variant where we saw cases quadruple and that will be put a damper on recovery in parts of the U.S.," Gedney said.
But there is a lot of optimism with the job gains in the summer. Many employers are hoping to capitalize on that in the weeks and months to come.
"We want to make it easy for people to come in, apply for a job," Trowbridge said.
