More than 100 employers gathered at Northwest Montana Job and Opportunity Fair Thursday looking to reach potential employees in a competitive job market.

Although needs and vacant positions varied across different industries and sectors, employers voiced many of the same concerns: a small hiring pool and difficulties bringing in or retaining employees due to rising housing costs. Many say they are offering new benefits, sign-on bonuses and other incentives to fill jobs.

The event, hosted by the Daily Inter Lake and the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, took place at the Flathead County Fairgrounds.

Logan Health is hiring in almost every department, noted the hospital’s recruiter Amy Quinn who said hiring registered nurses is going to be their biggest challenge again this year. There has been a nationwide shortage of registered nurses since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Quinn said Logan Health is hiring all sorts of different entry-level jobs starting at $16 an hour. She said the healthcare provider is interested in helping their employees move-up and offering avenues to help them further their education.

“We’re trying to grow our own people,” Quinn said. “So, coming in at an entry-level position can grow you anywhere. Once you go with us, we have a $3,000 a year tuition reimbursement. So, we also have our hands in with the local colleges and helping people become what they want to be, and help funding that too.”

Technology company Applied Materials is taking a similar approach by hiring entry-level employees, training them and offering them ways to stay and grow within the company.

Planning and Logistics Manager Betsy Walhert said the company is hiring positions in logistics, warehousing, shipping, planning and production.

“We want to promote from within, so they can grow into positions in their career, take advantage of college tuition reimbursement,” she said. “I have two people on my team at the moment who started from various positions, worked full-time and went to school part-time.”

The company’s general manager for Montana in November told the Daily Inter Lake that Applied Materials planned to add as many as 200 new jobs in Kalispell with its expansion into a new manufacturing facility in Evergreen this year. Their other two Montana facilities are located on Reserve Drive and on Birch Grove Road.

ANOTHER LARGE employer in the Flathead Valley, Weyerhaeuser is looking to fill vacant positions.

Senior Human Resources Business Partner Trisha Federico said the company is hiring entry level positions for both their Columbia Falls and Kalispell locations, but there are a few factors that make it difficult to hire people.

One is housing, she said, noting that they’ve hired people from out-of-state that end up backing out after researching housing costs in the area. It’s also difficult to hire for their overnight shifts.

“We are a 24/7 operation in Columbia Falls, so that is a challenge, and just competing with other employers in the area in a somewhat limited candidate pool and it’s a candidate’s market,” Federico said.

Weyerhaeuser’s Flathead Valley locations have been focusing their efforts on trying to hire local people who are already established here. Federico said the company is also forming partnerships with local schools and creating internships to find new ways to hire in a competitive market.

Other employers like The Wave in Whitefish are trying to be flexible to fill their entry-level positions, but Human Resources Office Manager Lisa Owens, who has been with the fitness center for 17 years, said housing is one reason it has been difficult to bring in and retain employees.

“I know it does affect our ability to bring in our entry-level positions, and even management positions we have available is a challenge because they can’t find housing,” she said. “Even our seasonal employees in the winter have to transition out because they can’t find housing in the summer months, so we’ve lost some seasonal employees that way.”

ONE SEASONAL employer preparing for the summer season is Bigfork’s Flathead Lake Lodge, which hires about 100 employees.

Dax VanFossen, brand ambassador for the lodge, said the lodge tries to hire college-aged students and also provide them with housing, avoiding one hurdle that many other companies looking for year-round employees can’t get over.

“So we’re actually in good shape right now,” he said. “This year we aren’t anticipating too many issues with that and I think housing is a big part of that.”

VanFossen said most of their vacant positions are already filled, but they are still looking to fill positions for a sous chef, line cooks, housekeeping and an office administrator/gift shop employee.

Human Resources Manager Kristen Lee said she also attributes their ability to fill positions by starting to hire in December when college students are at home during winter break and solidifying moves for the upcoming year.

Pursuit, one of the largest employers in Glacier National Park, is also looking toward a bustling summer season. People and Culture Generalist Lani Mobley said the company is hiring seasonal positions throughout the company’s many lodges, but in particular, finding applicants to fill culinary and food and beverage positions have proved difficult in recent years.

“Culinary has been the biggest struggle, but it’s been slow and steady. We’ve really built up a great team over the years and have great management. But for really getting those seasonal positions filled in the park, culinary and food and beverage is last to catch up,” Mobley said.

She said the company offers an end-of-season bonus for people who stay through the end of their contract, as well as other incentives to try to keep applicants interested.

EDUCATION HAS been another sector hit hard by employee shortages of all kinds, from teachers to bus drivers.

Sandy Evenson with Harlow’s Bus Services said the transportation company is offering a $2,000 sign-on bonus to Commercial Driver’s License holders and $1,000 for those who still need to get one. The contractor supplies buses and drivers to Kalispell Public Schools, among others.

She said because bus driving is a part-time job, it’s difficult to find interested candidates.

“There is a lot of responsibility that goes with that job and you have to follow a lot of guidelines that keep changing— they keep creating more restrictions and rules,” Evenson said.

Evenson said bus driving can be a very rewarding job with drivers forming relationships with students and watching them grow up. But, the challenging job is a hard one to fill — and like so many other employers, Evenson also cited affordable housing as another reason hiring has been difficult.