With a steady increase in career opportunities, employment for the healthcare sector is currently at the highest it has ever been in Minnesota with 497,900 people working in the industry. 

Essentia is looking to grow these numbers further to match the needs of patients. 

“We’re doing a lot of different, innovative, and creative ways to attract and retain candidates here at Essentia Health,” said Human Resources Director Sarah Schipper. “One of them we’ve had a big success in is what we’re calling ‘the Boomerang campaign,’ getting alumni or previous employers to come back to work for us, whether it’s some retirees that a part time staff or the full time status, but other people that may have left our community for whatever reason to come back to us.”

International recruitment is another program being built at Essentia. The hospital system also puts effort into keeping employees healthy. 

“We have a very special wellbeing program here at Essentia Health, where we really do put a focus on the well-being of our colleagues and offer a variety of different ways to balance work with us and family,” said Schipper. 

With many medical appointments having a virtual option, job candidates have been interested in more flexibility. 

“Obviously, we’re in the business of taking care of patients here. So there is a lot of standard work for a lot of our direct patient care positions,” said Schipper.  For some positions, there is the flexibility to work from home, from time to time, maybe working different hours based on family, in-home needs. And since we are open every day of the year and every hour of the day, it’s easy to get work done at different times.” 

Virtual interviews have become more common, but recruiting is still being done the old-fashioned way. There will be a career fair at the Garden in Canal Park from 11am to 4pm Thursday. 

“We are going to have a slew of different leaders from the operations side to that patient side, to people like myself and human resources looking for all types of candidates,” said Schipper. “So we’re really focused really on hiring nurses, LPN, nursing assistants, and Environment Services, Nutrition Service. Our colleagues are looking for pretty much anyone who would work in the hospital care system.

For the career fair, casual attire is recommend, and bringing a resume is preferred but not required. No RSVP is needed, and there will be some interviews done on site. 

“Come through those doors, take an opportunity to hear what we have to offer you from a career standpoint,” said Schipper. “You know, a lot of times people walk in with a certain job in mind that there’s many paths once you get into health care that you can take.”