A3
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2021
For many workers, the right job has to be the right fi t
Challenges during
a labor shortage
By SUZANNE ROIG
The Bulletin
SISTERS — Donna Lee
Bolt will work for hay.
Seven bales of hay a year
to feed “C.K.,” “Lightning,”
“Charmarie” and “Tote” —
Bolt’s four horses.
The 74-year-old retired
educational assistant said
she doesn’t need much for
herself. But her four-legged
“babies” need food and sup-
plements to the tune of more
than $2,100 a year.
Retirement
always
included part-time work,
Social Security checks and
selling real estate, which is
why Bolt took a job a week
ago, working six hours a
week at a retail store in
Sisters.
But it took several weeks
and several job interviews to
fi nd the right employer. She
didn’t want to travel outside
of Sisters. She wasn’t will-
ing to work for less than $12
an hour and she didn’t want
to work in food service.
“I’ve always had it in my
mind that I’d move to Sisters
and retire here,” Bolt said. “I
live off my Social Security
and I struggle to make ends
meet, at the moment. The
horses are a big factor in my
being poor right now.”
At a time when Ore-
gon employers are in a cri-
sis fi nding workers to fi ll
vacant positions, job candi-
dates, too, are struggling to
fi nd the right job. Job seek-
ers like Bolt say even with
incentives, such as sign-
ing bonuses and benefi ts,
the job, the location and the
work environment have to
be a good fi t.
Seeking a perfect
match
Companies such as New-
port Market off er benefi ts
and increased wages and tout
that candidates don’t need a
college degree, but still can
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
A small sign at a checkout stand advertises jobs at Newport Market in Bend.
make a career out of the
job. As an employee-owned
company, the m arket off ers
employees a stake in the
business’ success through
the profi t sharing.
“We hire the best per-
son for the job,” said Lauren
Johnson, Newport Market’s
CEO and president. “With
younger workers, we’re lim-
ited with the hours they can
work. When it comes to hir-
ing adults, we look for the
best person for the job. We
want people with a great
attitude who want to be
there and work at building
community.”
The c entral Oregon
unemployment rate now
hovers around 5%, near the
state and federal levels and
far lower than at the start of
the coronavirus pandemic .
Oregon has added more than
80,000 new jobs over the
past eight months, accord-
ing to the state employment
data.
With people living lon-
ger, some have to fi nd a sec-
ond career to not only keep
them engaged in the com-
munity, but also to fl esh out
retirement benefi ts.
People over 65 make up
22% in the Bend-Prineville
metro area, according to the
U.S. Census Bureau’s esti-
mates. And people 18 to 64
years of age make up 58% of
the population .
David Shirley, a Red-
mond resident, had his web
design business helping
fi nance him in post-retire-
ment. But the pandemic put
Get to The Point.
the kibosh on future busi-
ness, said Shirley, 71.
“The last paying gig I
had was about a year ago,”
Shirley said. “I haven’t got-
ten any bites since then. The
business was helping quite
a bit, but now I don’t have
much income from there.
We’re getting by. It was nice
to have the extra income.”
While older workers
have years of life experience
as well as time on the job,
young people often have
fresh ideas and perspec-
tives. The age distribution
of the workforce in c entral
Oregon in 2020 for those 55
and older was 23.6% and for
those 25 to 54 it was 63.8%,
according to the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics. Those 55
and older are projected to
grow their workplace partic-
ipation to 25% by 2030 .
Shirley said the compe-
tition for web business has
heated up over the years.
When he fi rst arrived in
Redmond in 2004 there
were few web designers.
Making connections
early
Working from home and
developing a freelance busi-
ness is the fallback position
for student Daphne Lara
Luna, who’s working toward
a master’s in business. While
she’s obtaining her degree at
the Oregon State Universi-
ty-Cascades, Lara Luna is
working at CoLab, advising
businesses and making con-
tacts in the community.
When Lara Luna, 23,
3 bedroom, 5 bath, 4,568 Sq. Ft.
graduates in June, she wants
to get into a corporate man-
agement job, but she knows
that she could always fall
back on her knowledge and
contacts and freelance in
town.
“I love the opportunity
to take an idea and come up
with solutions,” Lara Luna
said. “I love talking to peo-
ple on the phone or in per-
son. I’m an ambivert.”
Lara Luna said it took
some retooling on her part to
fi t into the corporate world.
She had to learn how to
answer the phone without
knowing who’s on the other
end and act professional.
“I’ve enjoyed all the jobs
I’ve worked at,” Lara Luna
said. “I’m starting to look
for work now. I’d like to
stay close, something in the
West Coast, but I’m willing
to travel.”
During Bolt’s job search,
she thought she’d done
well during a job interview
and had a tour of the busi-
ness, only to be told that
the company decided to “go
in another direction,” Bolt
said. In another interview,
she was told that the com-
pany had others they wanted
to interview.
“I don’t know what hap-
pened, or if it was because
of my age, or the company
wanted someone younger
who would stick around
and move up,” Bolt said.
“It would help me to know
what it means when a com-
pany says they’re going in
another direction so I could
improve. ”
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