International students fill Boji area job gap
By Russ Oechslin Journal correspondent | Posted: Sunday, July 27, 2008
Modovian students Doina Arabadji, left, and Nadya Cveatsovschaya check the Romanian and Russian dictionaries to find the word for "smile," with Matt Schmelling, convention services manager at The Inn at Okoboji. The Russian word is "ulibka." Schmelling says his staff often refers to the translation dictionaries to better communicate with its iternational staff. Like The Inn, a growing number of Okoboji area employees have been turning to international college students to fill summer jobs. (Staff photo by Russ Oechslin)
OKOBOJI, Iowa -- To help fill summer jobs at one of Iowa's top tourist destinations, some Okoboji area businesses have turned to college students from such far-flung places as Central America, Eastern Europe and Asia.
"We're just not growing as many Iowa farm kids as we used to," said Bob Seggerman of Employment Connections, in Spencer, Iowa, who himself grew up on a farm near Marcus, Iowa.
Arnolds Park Amusement Park General Manager Paul Plumb was one of the first in the area to use international students. He first learned of the concept four years ago at an amusement park convention.
"We thought about it that year. The following year we didn't we didn't do it either. And we kinda said to ourselves we should have. We were short-staffing and had kids not showing up. We needed more bodies," Plumb said.
"Both our high school and college students knew we couldn't fire 'em because we were between a rock and a hard place. If you're to that point they know that. And they know you're not going to fire them."
So, last year Plumb found 12 international students. Success with that group led to doubling that number this year, with students from Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Equador. Three of the 24 in this year's group were part of last year' staff that numbers close to 150 employees through the summer, Plumb said.
Most every one of the international students puts in more than 40 hours each week, he adds. But there are really two groups within the two dozen students.
"One group wants to work very hard -- to work as many hours as they can to earn a lot of money so they can go home and have money in their pockets. The other group just wants to have the experience of coming to America. They don't want quite as many hours. But they're still very effective employees. They're here every day when they're asked to be."
Plumb said each of the students is expected to work for at least 90 days. Then they can travel for about a month before being required to return home.
Some of Plumb's crew has even taken second jobs during their off-hours.
"The pay is good compared to what most of them would earn at home. Some can earn more in a couple hours then they would in a whole day in their own country."
Arrowwood Resort
Now in his third summer as manager at Arrowwood Resort, Anthony Galbraith
says he has had little response to his ads for housekeeping staff in that time. Now he says he "couldn't be happier" than he is with his international students, who are working in a variety of positions, including serving at banquets, doing dishes, prepping food, laundry, housekeeping, and serving in the restaurant.
"It's a lot of front-line jobs they're doing," he says.
Galbraith's 11 students are all from Indonesia. He found them through an agency his company, Regency Hotel Management, has used for many years at its Custer State Park facility in South Dakota, where they have close to 200 international students each year.
Considering the 150 to 175 staffers that Galbraith manages at Arrowwood and Bridges Bay Resorts, 11 is not a significant number, he admits, "except that you're talking about those jobs you need to fill to run a hotel on an every day basis. If you don't have clean rooms you can't sell rooms."
Galbraith's international staff ranges from 20 to 50 years old. And the 50-year-old, he says, "is just quite the go-getter -- the one who works the most hours."
The Inn at Okoboji
Brad Tifft, manager of The Inn at Okoboji, said it had become increasingly difficult to find seasonal help locally. Three of four years ago, the resort looked at bringing in international students but had difficulty finding housing for them. Finally, the business decided to make available several units at the Shamrock, a Spirit Lake motel owned by The Inn.
Working through an agency in Texas, Tifft found 10 students from Moldova and Turkey.
"Some of them have better English communication skills, and that may dictate some of the jobs they do in the kitchen, housekeeping and conventions services." he said.
"The nice part about this is the students are on a four-month contract, which gives us coverage from mid-May to mid-September -- a time when local students are back in classes."
The area resorts, Tifft explains, lose students who are returning to classes as early as this last week in July. And the schedules seem to advance each year, he says.
Heather Ellis, manager of the AmericInn for the last seven years, says this is the first year she has not supplemented her staff with international students as she's getting better response to ads.
With 61 rooms, the AmericInn has a staff of about 20 full and part-timers.
In previous years Ellis has had students from Poland, Russia and the Czech Republic.
With a staff of nearly 150, the Inn at Okoboji's Tifft says he also hopes to have more international students next season.
Plumb also is looking to add another dozen students to supplement his staff at the amusement park in the summer of 2009.
"It's opened up all these different cultures for us that we didn't know about. It's a unique experience."
Galbraith says he also would like more international students -- maybe even year-round.
"They are such great people," he said. "And they work so hard."
Turkish student finds Boji 'a little boring'
OKOBOJI, Iowa -- Two Turkish students are working through the summer at The Inn at Okoboji are looking forward to seeing New York City before they fly home in September.
Belgin Bal, 24, lives in Istanbul, the largest city in Europe, and also Turkey's largest seaport, with a population of about 11 million. "I am in love with my city," Bal explains.
While Bal is working here to improve her English, her co-worker, Ezig Cabuk, is one of the students who is enjoying the American experience.
Cabuk, 20, who lives in Izmir, her nation's second largest seaport city with a population of about 4.5 million, feels the same way about her hometown, adding that Okoboji "is so peaceful and a little boring."
With no transportation out of town, the two are feeling land-locked at the Iowa Great Lakes. That's one reason they're looking forward to the excitement of New York, knowing they could spend all of their three months of earnings in the short time they are in the Big Apple.
Cabuk, who is studying statistics and finance, wants to become a banker when she graduates from university.
Bal will be studying German as a second language when she returns home. She says she does not consider English a second language, "because everybody should speak English. In Turkey, if you want a better job, you need to learn English. It is too important to us all. Everybody should learn English."
Bal says she may become an interpreter after graduation.
-- Russ Oechslin
"We're just not growing as many Iowa farm kids as we used to," said Bob Seggerman of Employment Connections, in Spencer, Iowa, who himself grew up on a farm near Marcus, Iowa.
Arnolds Park Amusement Park General Manager Paul Plumb was one of the first in the area to use international students. He first learned of the concept four years ago at an amusement park convention.
"We thought about it that year. The following year we didn't we didn't do it either. And we kinda said to ourselves we should have. We were short-staffing and had kids not showing up. We needed more bodies," Plumb said.
"Both our high school and college students knew we couldn't fire 'em because we were between a rock and a hard place. If you're to that point they know that. And they know you're not going to fire them."
So, last year Plumb found 12 international students. Success with that group led to doubling that number this year, with students from Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Equador. Three of the 24 in this year's group were part of last year' staff that numbers close to 150 employees through the summer, Plumb said.
Most every one of the international students puts in more than 40 hours each week, he adds. But there are really two groups within the two dozen students.
"One group wants to work very hard -- to work as many hours as they can to earn a lot of money so they can go home and have money in their pockets. The other group just wants to have the experience of coming to America. They don't want quite as many hours. But they're still very effective employees. They're here every day when they're asked to be."
Plumb said each of the students is expected to work for at least 90 days. Then they can travel for about a month before being required to return home.
Some of Plumb's crew has even taken second jobs during their off-hours.
"The pay is good compared to what most of them would earn at home. Some can earn more in a couple hours then they would in a whole day in their own country."
Arrowwood Resort
Now in his third summer as manager at Arrowwood Resort, Anthony Galbraith
says he has had little response to his ads for housekeeping staff in that time. Now he says he "couldn't be happier" than he is with his international students, who are working in a variety of positions, including serving at banquets, doing dishes, prepping food, laundry, housekeeping, and serving in the restaurant.
"It's a lot of front-line jobs they're doing," he says.
Galbraith's 11 students are all from Indonesia. He found them through an agency his company, Regency Hotel Management, has used for many years at its Custer State Park facility in South Dakota, where they have close to 200 international students each year.
Considering the 150 to 175 staffers that Galbraith manages at Arrowwood and Bridges Bay Resorts, 11 is not a significant number, he admits, "except that you're talking about those jobs you need to fill to run a hotel on an every day basis. If you don't have clean rooms you can't sell rooms."
Galbraith's international staff ranges from 20 to 50 years old. And the 50-year-old, he says, "is just quite the go-getter -- the one who works the most hours."
The Inn at Okoboji
Brad Tifft, manager of The Inn at Okoboji, said it had become increasingly difficult to find seasonal help locally. Three of four years ago, the resort looked at bringing in international students but had difficulty finding housing for them. Finally, the business decided to make available several units at the Shamrock, a Spirit Lake motel owned by The Inn.
Working through an agency in Texas, Tifft found 10 students from Moldova and Turkey.
"Some of them have better English communication skills, and that may dictate some of the jobs they do in the kitchen, housekeeping and conventions services." he said.
"The nice part about this is the students are on a four-month contract, which gives us coverage from mid-May to mid-September -- a time when local students are back in classes."
The area resorts, Tifft explains, lose students who are returning to classes as early as this last week in July. And the schedules seem to advance each year, he says.
Heather Ellis, manager of the AmericInn for the last seven years, says this is the first year she has not supplemented her staff with international students as she's getting better response to ads.
With 61 rooms, the AmericInn has a staff of about 20 full and part-timers.
In previous years Ellis has had students from Poland, Russia and the Czech Republic.
With a staff of nearly 150, the Inn at Okoboji's Tifft says he also hopes to have more international students next season.
Plumb also is looking to add another dozen students to supplement his staff at the amusement park in the summer of 2009.
"It's opened up all these different cultures for us that we didn't know about. It's a unique experience."
Galbraith says he also would like more international students -- maybe even year-round.
"They are such great people," he said. "And they work so hard."
Turkish student finds Boji 'a little boring'
OKOBOJI, Iowa -- Two Turkish students are working through the summer at The Inn at Okoboji are looking forward to seeing New York City before they fly home in September.
Belgin Bal, 24, lives in Istanbul, the largest city in Europe, and also Turkey's largest seaport, with a population of about 11 million. "I am in love with my city," Bal explains.
While Bal is working here to improve her English, her co-worker, Ezig Cabuk, is one of the students who is enjoying the American experience.
Cabuk, 20, who lives in Izmir, her nation's second largest seaport city with a population of about 4.5 million, feels the same way about her hometown, adding that Okoboji "is so peaceful and a little boring."
With no transportation out of town, the two are feeling land-locked at the Iowa Great Lakes. That's one reason they're looking forward to the excitement of New York, knowing they could spend all of their three months of earnings in the short time they are in the Big Apple.
Cabuk, who is studying statistics and finance, wants to become a banker when she graduates from university.
Bal will be studying German as a second language when she returns home. She says she does not consider English a second language, "because everybody should speak English. In Turkey, if you want a better job, you need to learn English. It is too important to us all. Everybody should learn English."
Bal says she may become an interpreter after graduation.
-- Russ Oechslin
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