Rural companies struggle to recruit employees
Posted: Monday, July 30, 2007
SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) -- Cattle brands are seared onto the knotty pine walls of the most renowned local restaurant, a faded grain elevator is the tallest building in town, and a popular evening activity is firing shotguns at moving targets.
"What makes you think you'd want to come here?" Los Angeles resident and entertainment-industry photographer Bruce Brosnan was asked by a Cabela's recruiter recently after applying for a job at the Nebraska-based outdoor gear giant.
Such seemingly odd questions have become the norm as the large company based in the small Plains town tries to navigate an unusual conundrum: How to attract people to good-paying jobs at a profitable, rapidly growing company situated in a remote town of 6,400 people some three hours from the closest metropolitan area, Denver.
Other large companies in rural areas face the same challenges.
In Pella, Iowa, home to Pella Windows and Doors, one of the first questions recruiters ask potential workers is how they feel about moving to a rural area. They direct them to a Web site that shows what the city, population 12,470, has to offer and customize town tours to fit the interests of employees.
"There's this immediate perception you can't be a with-it company and are a little backwards," said Christine Headington-Hall, senior manager of corporate recruitment for Pella, which employs 3,600 people in the town. "We're very upfront on the topic so they know what we have to offer."
Many Pella recruits are drawn to the town's cleanliness, low crime rate and recreational opportunities, she said. But at first, some have to be convinced the company, routinely listed as one of the 100 best companies in the country to work for, isn't an industry backwater just because it's in a small town.
Like their Cabela's counterparts, Pella recruiters try to get potential employees to bring their spouses on visits in hopes they will provide clues about whether the family will fit into the community.
During one recent week, Cabela's flew 10 people in. Just one worked out.
Frustrated by spending thousands to bring corporate-level recruits to Sidney -- only to have many scurry back home after wincing at the prospect of living somewhere even more remote than they imagined -- Cabela's is getting more aggressive in vetting its recruit pool.
Soon you will have to fill out a questionnaire partly designed to tell the company whether you'll flourish in an area that one Cabela's executive said is perceived as "the land that God forgot."
"I'm not sure people know what they're getting into sometimes," Chris Gay said as he stood holding a shotgun on a sporting-clays range just outside Sidney. He and his family moved to Sidney from Baltimore three years ago.
When considering a Cabela's job, Brosnan said, recruiters insisted he visit Sidney and bring his wife. Once there, "they kept saying, 'What do you think of Sidney?"' said Brosnan.
Drawn to the fishing and hunting opportunities, a small-town lifestyle for his kids and his wish to escape the big-city rat race, Brosnan took a job designing pages of Cabela's catalogs and directing photo shoots.
His wife's first reaction to the idea of moving to Sidney: "She thought it was a joke." Later, he said, she was horrified when told she should join a shooting league for fun.
But the town has been a good fit, said Brosnan, who points out it takes less than two minutes now for him to get to work, and the people less neurotic.
Gay, Cabela's manager of investor relations, said his family was initially hesitant but now appreciates some qualities of small-town living. Among them is the ability to give his children more freedom to roam and "a sense that people kind of look out for them."
But, said Gay, "it's not easy at first."
Living in Sidney can be the equivalent of tent camping for those accustomed to urban luxuries. The nearest mall, after all, is a 90-minute drive away.
When one executive lists amenities in the town, he points out the bowling alley.
It hurts that the nearest major airport is in Denver.
"That drive from Denver kills us," said Dana Streff, a Cabela's recruiter.
One couple who made the trip called headquarters on the drive back to Denver. According to Streff, they said: "'This isn't for us. The whole way, there aren't any trees."'
"It's a leap of faith for employees to come," Streff said.
As Cabela's adds more and more retail stores to its catalog business, it also plans to add 700 jobs in Sidney over the next four years.
By 2011, 2,000 people could work in the corporate headquarters -- a 150 percent increase since 2003.
Population loss in rural areas of Plains states suggest towns like Sidney can expect to lose as many people as Cabela's plans to hire there over the next few years.
So some look at the sprawling corporate complex that juts out of the western Nebraska landscape as a symbol of economic hope: If Cabela's can do it, maybe others can, too.
"We've let the image of the Plains be defined by the once-every-three-month article in The New York Times about how bleak it is out here," said Jerry Nagel, president of Northern Great Plains, Inc., a not-for-profit group that works to bolster the region and its economy. "We need to create our own image."
"What makes you think you'd want to come here?" Los Angeles resident and entertainment-industry photographer Bruce Brosnan was asked by a Cabela's recruiter recently after applying for a job at the Nebraska-based outdoor gear giant.
Such seemingly odd questions have become the norm as the large company based in the small Plains town tries to navigate an unusual conundrum: How to attract people to good-paying jobs at a profitable, rapidly growing company situated in a remote town of 6,400 people some three hours from the closest metropolitan area, Denver.
Other large companies in rural areas face the same challenges.
In Pella, Iowa, home to Pella Windows and Doors, one of the first questions recruiters ask potential workers is how they feel about moving to a rural area. They direct them to a Web site that shows what the city, population 12,470, has to offer and customize town tours to fit the interests of employees.
"There's this immediate perception you can't be a with-it company and are a little backwards," said Christine Headington-Hall, senior manager of corporate recruitment for Pella, which employs 3,600 people in the town. "We're very upfront on the topic so they know what we have to offer."
Many Pella recruits are drawn to the town's cleanliness, low crime rate and recreational opportunities, she said. But at first, some have to be convinced the company, routinely listed as one of the 100 best companies in the country to work for, isn't an industry backwater just because it's in a small town.
Like their Cabela's counterparts, Pella recruiters try to get potential employees to bring their spouses on visits in hopes they will provide clues about whether the family will fit into the community.
During one recent week, Cabela's flew 10 people in. Just one worked out.
Frustrated by spending thousands to bring corporate-level recruits to Sidney -- only to have many scurry back home after wincing at the prospect of living somewhere even more remote than they imagined -- Cabela's is getting more aggressive in vetting its recruit pool.
Soon you will have to fill out a questionnaire partly designed to tell the company whether you'll flourish in an area that one Cabela's executive said is perceived as "the land that God forgot."
"I'm not sure people know what they're getting into sometimes," Chris Gay said as he stood holding a shotgun on a sporting-clays range just outside Sidney. He and his family moved to Sidney from Baltimore three years ago.
When considering a Cabela's job, Brosnan said, recruiters insisted he visit Sidney and bring his wife. Once there, "they kept saying, 'What do you think of Sidney?"' said Brosnan.
Drawn to the fishing and hunting opportunities, a small-town lifestyle for his kids and his wish to escape the big-city rat race, Brosnan took a job designing pages of Cabela's catalogs and directing photo shoots.
His wife's first reaction to the idea of moving to Sidney: "She thought it was a joke." Later, he said, she was horrified when told she should join a shooting league for fun.
But the town has been a good fit, said Brosnan, who points out it takes less than two minutes now for him to get to work, and the people less neurotic.
Gay, Cabela's manager of investor relations, said his family was initially hesitant but now appreciates some qualities of small-town living. Among them is the ability to give his children more freedom to roam and "a sense that people kind of look out for them."
But, said Gay, "it's not easy at first."
Living in Sidney can be the equivalent of tent camping for those accustomed to urban luxuries. The nearest mall, after all, is a 90-minute drive away.
When one executive lists amenities in the town, he points out the bowling alley.
It hurts that the nearest major airport is in Denver.
"That drive from Denver kills us," said Dana Streff, a Cabela's recruiter.
One couple who made the trip called headquarters on the drive back to Denver. According to Streff, they said: "'This isn't for us. The whole way, there aren't any trees."'
"It's a leap of faith for employees to come," Streff said.
As Cabela's adds more and more retail stores to its catalog business, it also plans to add 700 jobs in Sidney over the next four years.
By 2011, 2,000 people could work in the corporate headquarters -- a 150 percent increase since 2003.
Population loss in rural areas of Plains states suggest towns like Sidney can expect to lose as many people as Cabela's plans to hire there over the next few years.
So some look at the sprawling corporate complex that juts out of the western Nebraska landscape as a symbol of economic hope: If Cabela's can do it, maybe others can, too.
"We've let the image of the Plains be defined by the once-every-three-month article in The New York Times about how bleak it is out here," said Jerry Nagel, president of Northern Great Plains, Inc., a not-for-profit group that works to bolster the region and its economy. "We need to create our own image."
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John wrote on Aug 7, 2007 9:49 AM:
Phillip R. wrote on Jul 30, 2007 9:25 AM:
Phillip R. wrote on Jul 30, 2007 9:21 AM: