Bartlesville looking for a few good Fort Smith area workers

Bartlesville wants you. Especially if you are one of the thousands in the Fort Smith area recently laid off by Whirlpool, Rheem, Riverside, The Times Record or Arkansas Best Corp.

The Bartlesville Development Corporation purchased three billboards in Fort Smith near the Rheem and Whirlpool plants. (The photo pictured here is of the billboard near Arkansas 45 and Zero Street.) The BDC also is attending a regional job fair scheduled for Nov. 24, at the Fort Smith Convention Center. The job fair is sponsored by the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services.

“Our unemployment rate is 2.8 percent, and our companies are begging for qualified workers,” said Jim Fram, president and CEO of the Bartlesville Regional Chamber of Commerce and the BDC.

Bartlesville, located about 45 miles due north of Tulsa, has a population of about 35,000 in a county of about 50,000 people.

Fram said the worker recruitment effort targets communities where layoffs or plant closings have been announced that are within a 300 mile radius of Bartlesville.

Companies offering “good wages with strong benefit packages” need workers now, Fram said. Those companies include ABB, Sitel, Siemens and ConocoPhillips. Banks and restaurants in the area also are seeking workers.

(The City Wire sought comment from the Fort Smith chamber for this article. We will update when a response is received.)