C-Store Hosts Job Fair for Local Retailers

Thriftway Super Stops brought together 26 businesses and 75 potential workers.

November 12, 2021

BUTTE, Mont.—A Montana convenience store organized a job fair at a local mall to help local businesses fill empty positions, reports Fox Montana.

Thriftway Super Stops hosted the fair at Butte Plaza Mall, where 26 different businesses from the Butte, Mont., area met with 75 prospective employees. The idea for the job fair grew out of Thriftway’s own hiring event, which was a success.

"We did a hiring event in our parking lot about a month ago, just as a last-ditch effort to try to find employees to fill positions in our convenience stores," Marilyn Malyevac, human resources manager for Thriftway Super Stops and Sutey Oil Co., told Fox Montana. "We did interviews and hiring on the spot, and we filled nine positions in one day."

Feedback from employers following the event was positive, so Thriftway is planning on making these job fairs a recurring event.

"People are looking for jobs, but not everyone knows where to go to get them," Malyevac told Fox Montana. "This will make it easier for them to come to one place and find all of the different companies in Butte that are hiring at one time."

Across the U.S., companies are scrambling to hire employees in a labor market that has ample job openings but far fewer applicants. The struggle to find labor has some companies rethinking job qualifications, as well as the types of incentives used to attract employees, such as dropping the education requirements and background checks for applicants and offering perks like free college.

To help convenience retailers attract and retain top-notch people, NACS partnered with the nonprofit Good Jobs Institute in January 2020 to bring the Good Jobs Strategy to the industry.

A recent NACS webinar explored how retailers can attract and hire team members today and in the future. From virtual hiring to job shadowing, retailers are employing a host of ways to find and connect with potential workers. NACS Magazine explored how convenience stores are finding success in hiring in “Are You Ready for a Gen Z Workforce?” in the September 2021 issue.