Hire The Hills aims to keep unemployment low

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - South Dakota has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country and the Department of Labor is looking to maintain that by hosting events like job fairs.

Hire The Hills is one such event and they set up in Rapid City on Wednesday.

The businesses at the event ranged from food places like McDonald’s to education-focused careers with Rapid City Area Schools.

The event was open to anyone interested and even allowed walk-in appointments for those who need them. The assistant manager of the Department of Labor’s Rapid City office says the number of applicants he saw exceeded his expectations.

“So I wanna say our numbers so far, we’ve had it open for about an hour and we’ve really seen a positive turnout so far with what we’re expecting. I think the numbers are actually higher than what we thought. So I know Sioux Falls recently had an event. I wanna say they had attendance in the mid-thirties so we’re hoping for something near or better than that,” said Jason Nylen.

Although this event is over, Nylen says they will hold more events like this in the future, quarterly if they continue to see a need for them.

“One of the other things that we’re kinda looking at doing too is on-site employer events. So we would go to that company’s business. We would ask them to possibly offer tours if they’re available. Be able to meet some of that staff and really just get a feel for the culture of that business,” said Nylen.

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