BRILLION, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — It’s been two weeks since a Calumet County company ended shift operations that led to jobs lost.
Employees impacted by the AriensCo layoffs are invited to a private job fair at Brillion High School on Wednesday.
“We all knew that with very little notice we just needed to do something to help this group of impacted workers move forward,” said Bobbi Miller of the Fox Valley Workforce Development Board.
Richard Atkins was one of those impacted workers. He planned to attend the job fair at Brillion High School on Wednesday.
“I have my resume all set up and hopefully there’s something maybe close by, I’m planning on staying in Brillion now,” said Atkins.
Atkins managed a team at AriensCo’s Brillion campus and he says he believes his co-workers will be there too.
“I want to call them and see how they’re doing and motivate them, encourage them,” said Atkins.
Miller says this will be a great opportunity for those impacted.
“We have a total of 45 companies that are attending, and when I took a look at the list of all the positions they are recruiting for right now, it’s like 150 positions and some of those they need more than one person,” said Miller.
Impacted employees that are attending Wednesday’s job fair could be interviewing for positions that same day.
“We’re hopeful that they’ll stay on-site and have some interviews scheduled in the afternoon,” said Miller.
One of those companies is Ahlstrom, a paper mill in Kaukauna.
“We are looking forward to helping those employees that may have been displaced from Ariens, and we want to support the community,” said Ahlstrom spokesperson Addie Teeters.
Teeters talked about how this is a great opportunity for local companies to gain great workers.
“There is something about the Wisconsin workforce, the talent that we have right here in this state is incredible, a lot of hard-working folks that really we know will make fantastic employees no matter where they end up,” said Teeters.
Miller said rallying together for these workers is typical for Northeast Wisconsin.
“We’re trying our very best to make it as easy as possible for people to find out what’s out there and make a good decision,” said Miller.
“Looking forward to it,” said Atkins.
