NH employers raise salaries in effort to gain new hires

April 1, 2018 (New Hampshire Union Leader) - Many employers are boosting wages in a war for new hires.

AGNE, which serves independent grocery stores, is offering $20 an hour for a summer job to fill orders in its warehouse.

New Hampshire in February tied for the nation’s second-lowest unemployment rate, at 2.6 percent, bested by only Hawaii’s 2.1 percent.

The job fair at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester drew 250 job seekers. About 70 employers offered more than 800 jobs collectively.

Yvonne Manning, 55, of Northfield, was looking for an administrative assistant position.

Manning said she sent 100 to 150 resumes and had “not gotten back one callback.”

At the job fair, she said she lined up at least one job interview.

She put her odds of snagging a job as “very good.”

“I got quite a bit of face-to-face,” Manning said. “Some seemed really interested when I told them about my background.”

Copadis said many employers are looking for “someone who’s got a good work ethic” and “someone who’s going to stay with it.”

For job seekers, it’s often about pay, stability and putting them in a position for job growth, he said.

Service Credit Union was looking to hire about 50 people, including tellers, around the state.

Teller salaries were raised by a dollar an hour last year, and the credit union “recently did a salary survey,” she said.

At Age at Home, a geriatric care and senior home care management service in Concord, “we could hire at least 10 employees,” said President Laurel Trahan.

Finding qualified people is “incredibly difficult, just with the unemployment rate being so low,” she said. “Younger folks are moving out of state.”

Starting wages range from $11 to $13.50 an hour. Pay rose 50 cents an hour in early 2017 and again at the end of the year, she said.

“I think we’re streamlined to move along the application process quicker,” Trahan said.

Alene Candles in Milford had 30 open positions available.

“We definitely look at other companies on what they’re offering and adjust accordingly,” said HR Manager Jamie Chisholm.

The company raised wages $1 to $2 an hour within the past two years.

Jennifer Donovan at Donovan Equipment Co. in Londonderry said the company has raised wages in some areas and is trying to get an apprentice program started.

The company wants to fill seven positions starting at between $14 and $20 an hour.

Cumberland Farms was looking to fill 70 mainly retail openings around the state.

“Some places in New Hampshire can be definitely difficult markets, particularly Manchester and Concord,” said Lindsey White, supervisor of talent acquisition.

Flora Dubois, a talent acquisition specialist, said, “We like to move along right away ... because we could lose our person.”

“I found one I really liked,” Searles said.