We're Hiring: City of Norfolk struggling to fill 800 jobs – 13newsnow.com WVEC
NORFOLK, Va. — A staffing shortage isn’t new to Norfolk or many other cities across the country.
Last summer, Deputy City Manager Catheryn Whitesell says the shortage worsened. Now, she calls it a crisis.
“The pandemic was stressful for a lot of our workforce,” she said. “So, folks were leaving. If they could retire, they took the choice in retiring. And just trying to get people back into the workforce got ahead of us.”
Now, city leaders are looking to fill nearly 800 positions.
“We are looking for people from accountants to zookeepers,” Deputy City Manager LaVoris Pace said. “That’s from A to Z.”
Whitesell said about 200 to 300 of those positions are in public safety.
“Think police, fire, 911 call center, juvenile detention,” she explained.
Whitesell said these jobs go unfilled because the city is having a hard time competing with other agencies.
“For folks who are looking for employment, there’s a lot of choices – private sector, public sector, state, federal,” she said. “Everybody is trying to hire.”
The city is working hard to get some jobs off the market through advertisements and job fairs. It’s a new type of recruitment campaign for the city.
“It is very aggressive,” Pace said. “We are trying to cut through the marketplace clutter.”
The city hosted two job fairs around Christmas. Whitesell said over 300 people showed up and expressed interest, but they didn’t secure many positions. Another job fair is in the works for the spring, where city leaders hope to offer jobs on the spot.
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