Ski areas struggle to staff up seasonal workforce

With some of the earliest openings on record, Vermont ski areas have a lot to celebrate this season. But the job situation isn’t one of them.

“It has been a struggle, I will tell you, to hire this year,” Belinda Davison, who is in charge of human resources at Bolton Valley Resort, said in mid-November. “We are still looking in every single department.”

Vermont reported an unemployment rate below 3 percent for the 14th consecutive month in October, the month that ski areas were participating in job fairs and running ads on social media to draw job applicants for seasonal work. The Vermont Department of Labor said employers in many industries are having a hard time filling jobs.

Bolton, which hires about 350 people in the winter, has tried job fairs, social media and incentives, like a sign-on bonus and a bonus for completing the season for some of its jobs, said Davison. The resort will also bring in 18 young workers from a student exchange in Peru to work in guest services, food and beverage, retail operations and at the chairlifts, said Davison. She didn’t know what type of visas the young people would be using while working in Vermont. The guest workers will live in housing provided by the resort.

Read more at VTDigger.org (Ski areas struggle to staff up seasonal workforce)