| WorkSource Oregon helps Coastal Farm and Ranch Grow their Business |
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Jason Fritz, manager, Coastal Farm & Ranch, Oregon City
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Coastal Farm & Ranch had been looking at Oregon City area for a long time. They already have stores in Gresham and Woodburn and felt that "Oregon City is our type of customer".
There is a lot of people living the country lifestyle on small acreage or living in the country as well as true agriculture people, nursery people. They had been looking at the former site of the Emporium store at Oregon City Shopping Center and felt that "this is a building we feel we can work with". A full scale remodel went into action for a November 1st, 2004 opening date.
Stephanie Hudson, a Business Representative with WorkSource Oregon partner the Oregon Employment Department, contacted the new manager of the store, Jason Fritz.
Jason was anxious to work with the Clackamas County WorkSource Oregon Center because of the many services available to him. Because of the 40,000 square foot construction remodel, he needed applicants to be referred to the WorkSource Center to learn more about the available positions, get the referral, fill out the application, and hope for an interview with Jason. The Center provided "Now Hiring" signs in English and Spanish for Jason to put in his store front windows to direct job seekers to the Center. Applications were also made available at the Woodburn Employment Deptartment. Jason rented at small space close to the new store and set up his own interviews to happen at that location.
Twice a day he would stop by the WorkSource Oregon Center to pick up the current applications, or, Stephanie would deliver to the small interview space.
“I didn’t even know about the services that much,” Jason says. “Most of our stores we put an ad in the paper and have them come to the store and hire that way. It was something that was new and we thought we would try it that way through WorkSource Oregon and it worked out well.”
The Results?
Of the 250+ referrals that were made through WorkSource, Jason was able to hire 54 full time and part time sales associates and other related positions. Jason needed these employees to begin work early in October to shelve and stock the new store in preparation for the targeted opening date November 1st.
“It was a great experience and it worked well. We’ve kept over 98% of the employees (we got through WorkSource Oregon) so far the turnover has been very little. We got some very good associates out of using WorkSource Oregon.”
Jason is very pleased with the quality of the referrals and said typically he hired 3 out of 5 interviews. Normally at other store openings they would interview 5 and hire 1. Jason was looking for people that had any knowledge of farm equipment, animal both domestic and farm, and ranching savvy. His response from the community proved to him that Coastal Farm & Ranch made a great decision to locate in the Oregon City area and he made a great decision to work with WorkSource Oregon.
“The next new location we plan on opening, wherever that may be we will definitely do it the same way. It made everything smoother and it took less of my time and the manager’s time so we could focus on other things.”
Let one of our trained WorkSource Oregon Business Representatives help you to be more efficient and effective in hiring for your business. See the links to the right for ways to contact us!
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