Job-seekers market continues in Sturgis area

Hiring signs still seem to be the norm in Sturgis and beyond as we head into the summer months.

With job openings posted everywhere, it continues to be a job-seekers market, said Val Juergens, executive director of communications and marketing at Glen Oaks Community College.

This is true of jobs that don’t require a certificate or degree, she said, like restaurant and service sector jobs and jobs in factories. But the same is true for jobs that require education beyond high school.

“With the large number of recent resignations and early retirements, that has opened up doors for changes in professional positions all over,” Juergens said. “There are a number of employees who quit their office jobs for remote jobs and many of those positions are likely to require an education beyond high school.”

Sara Birch, director of health sciences at GOCC, said the majority of her students had job placements lined up near the end of their final semester. Also, many first-year students have been hired into nursing extern positions for active nursing students who have completed one year of their nursing program, she said.

“We had excellent attendance of prospective employers at our health fair last February,” Birch said. “ Most stated they were there to actively recruit our students in a variety of health careers.”

And what about summer positions?

At Miller Detasseling in Sturgis, Laurie Miller said numbers of employees are down going into the 2022 season. The company normally has about 180-190 employees on its payroll, she said, most of whom are students. As of Thursday, Miller Detasseling had 106 employees lined up for the summer, with derogueing beginning this coming week and detasseling starting around July 10.

While it has been more difficult to find students to work, Miller said part of the reason might be due to corporate changes. Before, Miller Detasseling could hire 13-year-olds. Now, the minimum age has been changed to 14.

Miller said the students she and husband Tim have working for them are great. Former longtime educators, they try to teach the students lessons on topics like responsibility while they work. It’s also a great opportunity for students to make money, Miller said.

Derogueing lasts about six weeks and detasseling lasts about three weeks with the company. They’re still hiring, Miller said. Information can be found at www.millerdetasseling.com.

At Sturgis Public Schools, superintendent Art Ebert said attracting and retaining staff is a challenge in all industries at the local, state, and national level. An additional challenge is that postsecondary teacher preparation programs are seeing a decline in enrollment, he said.

According to Hopkinis, Kilbride, and Strunk (2021), teacher preparation programs in Michigan saw a 56 percent decline in enrollment between 2008-09 and 2018-19, Ebert said.

“In Sturgis, these shortages are most pronounced in specialty certification areas such as Special Education and English as a Second Language,” he said. “On a positive note, we have graduating seniors that have indicated to us that they are going into education, and plan on returning to Sturgis to teach."

Exposure to the teaching profession has been assisted through high school programs such as the CTE Teacher Cadet Program and Teaching Internships, Ebert said.

This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: news-jobs-labor market-hiring-summer