Friday, May 26, 2023

By Sean McDonnell, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Businesses struggled to hire people the past three summers. But this year, many Cleveland-area employers report having a much easier time recruiting seasonal employees.

“The youth are back with a vengeance with a desire to work during the summer,” said Craig Dorn, president & CEO of Youth Opportunities Unlimited, a nonprofit focused on workforce development for teens and young adults.

In the wake of COVID-19, Dorn said interest from students “really took a hit” in 2021 and 2022. But he and others have had more luck recruiting students and seasonal employees this summer.

The lack of employees had put the Cleveland Metroparks in a bad situation the past two years, said Harold Harrison, the park system’s chief human resources officer. Hours were reduced and Merlin’s Wharf was even closed in 2021. So far this year has been much better.

Harrison said the Metroparks are on track to hire about 1,200 to 1,300 seasonal workers this summer, reaching a headcount not seen since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The park system hired only 600 seasonal employees in 2021, and 1,000 in 2022.

“I’m hopeful, based on where we are today, that we’ve weathered the storm of the pandemic,” Harrison said.

The Metroparks have about 750 year-round employees and try to add up to 1,300 seasonal workers each year— peaking in the summer. Harrison said seasonal workers are in a variety of roles, from nature centers to lifeguards to golf courses. While there are many students, there are also many retirees and people of all ages who come out to work seasonally.

Hiring for the summer starts the November before, he said. Harrison said the marketing team has done a great job keeping positions advertised in print and online. The park system also hired a manager of outreach and inclusion to build partnerships in the community, which Harrison said has really helped with recruiting.

Cedar Point spokesperson Tony Clark said the park hires 5,700 to 7,000 associates each season, and the hiring continues throughout the year. While Cedar Point is open during warmer weather, Castaway Bay and Sawmill Creak are open year round.

He said hiring is going well so far. Cedar Point has raised its starting wage to $20 an hour in 2021, but rolled it back to $15 an hour in 2022.

Sam McNulty, owner of Market Garden, Bright Side and Nano Brew in Cleveland, said he’s been having an easier time finding seasonal employees. That’s great news, because warm weather signals a busy season across his properties.

He said students are coming back. So are people who left the restaurant industry for jobs working from home or at Amazon facilities.

“We’re seeing a lot of folks that left the industry during the pandemic start to boomerang back,” McNulty said.

Nano Brew about doubles its capacity during the summer season, McNulty said. Market Garden can seat up to 300 people once it opens its outdoor seating.

McNulty said he has about 200 employees year-round and will try to increase his headcount to 250 during the summer.

However, restaurants overall are still seeing a labor shortage, said John Barker, head of the Ohio Restaurant Association.

In the ORA’s quarterly surveys, restaurants are still saying they’re about 10% to 15% short on staff. At the peak of the pandemic shortages, restaurants were about 25% short.

Seasonal staff can’t fill salaried roles, like kitchen managers, but having more people helps, especially because summer generally means more seating.

Barker said restaurants typically increase their workforce by 10% to 20% during the summer.

Both Barker and McNulty say demand at restaurants has not slowed. Even with concerns about recession, people are eager to eat out and do the things they couldn’t during the pandemic.

McNulty used to open his restaurants 364 days per year. Now they’re only open from Wednesday through Sunday — but he hasn’t seen a dip in sales.

Dorn, of Youth Opportunities Unlimited, said he’s seeing increased interest in students across the board. The organization helps teens find summer jobs at restaurants and in retail, but they also place students in a special summer jobs program.

In these jobs, students go to IT bootcamps or help rehab homes for Habitat for Humanity. Before the pandemic, he said they needed an average of two applicants to fill each position. But that changed recently.

In 2021, Dorn said they needed to collect more than 6,000 applications to fill 1,000 jobs. In 2022, they collected about 5,600 to fill 1,350.

So far in 2022 Youth Opportunities Unlimited has filled 1,900 positions with just under 6,000 applicants.

Dorn said applicants are more interested in taking jobs, rather than staying out of the workforce, which is helping them fill more positions.

Dorn, Barker, McNulty and Harrison said they think people avoided seasonal roles for a variety of reasons. Partly, they think potential workers had health concerns. Students, dealing with disrupted schedules and remote learning, had also been dealing with extra stress.

Another thing that’s constant between all the employers cleveland.com talked to is pay — which is up. The Metroparks used to pay about $10 an hour for seasonal workers, but now pays anywhere between $12 and $16 an hour, Harrison said.

Barker said wages are up about 25% in the restaurant industry. And non-tipped workers make about $14 an hour on average.

Not every employer is gearing up for the summer. Davey Tree, a landscaping and tree services company headquartered in Kent, is actually moving away from having a largely seasonal workforce.

Brigitte Orrick, Director of Recruiting & Employee Development, said Davey Tree hires about 600 seasonal employees each year, which includes 200 workers on guest visas and bout 80 interns. But that’s for a workforce of about 11,500 employees that spans most of the U.S.

She said there are opportunities for high school and college students on the landscaping side of the business. But even before the pandemic, Orrick said Davey Tree was working to make almost all employers full-time and employed year-round.

Davey Tree does this both because it makes business sense and because employees want it, Orrick said. The business has a lot of highly trained professionals, and Davey wants to make sure they get professional development and safety training year-round.

Orrick said most employees prefer to work full-time and year-round, which isn’t the norm in the industry.

She said the landscaping and tree service industry tends to have a lot of seasonality, and smaller companies will generally try to add people during the summer.

Summer jobs still available

Still looking for a seasonal job?

You can find Cleveland Metroparks jobs at clevelandmetroparks.com/careers.

You can find jobs for the Market Garden Brewery at marketgardenbrewery.com/joinourteam.

You can find Cedar Point jobs at jobs.cedarfair.com/cedar-point.

Sean McDonnell covers business and consumer topics for cleveland.com. You can reach him at smcdonnell@cleveland.com You can read more Cleveland business stories at cleveland.com/business/.