Republic’s All-City Career Fair hosts 41 employers in first go round

The city of Republic held its 2022 All-City Career Fair at the Republic Community Center on Friday, March 25. Thirty-six local businesses and organizations, along with five of the city’s departments, had booths at the event to showcase the job opportunities they had to offer those seeking employment.
Coca Cola, other businesses have jobs available
Among the local businesses at the fair was The Ozarks Coca Cola/Dr. Pepper Bottling Company. Jeff Addington, branch operations manager, said the company had a lot of vacancies to fill.
“We have numerous positions,” he said. “Anywhere from our office staff to our warehouse positions, our production facility, our load crew that loads trucks, our drivers that deliver the product. We have several different positions available.”
Addington said Coca Cola considers Republic a great location for recruiting new employees.
“Republic’s a growing community,” he said. “A lot of people (move) here. It’s in close proximity to Springfield, (and) lot of our employees live in Republic.”
Businesses also wanted to show they support Republic
Another area business at the career fair was the Ford Automotive Group. Albert Sandford, director of recruiting and hiring, said the company, like Coca Cola, had a lot of open positions they were looking to fill, but added that their presence at the event was about more than just hiring new personnel.
“We’re here to support Republic,” he said. “You know, we purchased the former Republic Ford back in early December, so we want to make sure that the community of Republic knows that we’re here, that we’re supporting the community and we’re glad to be a part of it.”
Nicholas Baker, regional operating director for the Flat Creek Restaurant, said Flat Creek was also looking to hire new help, but like Ford Automotive Group, was also at the career fair to show support for the city.
“I don’t think the goal is necessarily … finding applicants as much as getting out and just being involved in the community, just being a part of Republic as it continues to grow,” he said. “We’re a business, but we’re also involved in the community in many aspects, and I think just showing our commitment to being a part of the community is just as important as … if we were to find applicants
today.”
City itself also looking to hire
The city of Republic was itself looking for new employees. Rachel Reich-Graef, human resources generalist, said Republic was also hiring in their BUILDS and Parks and Rec Departments. Perhaps the open positions that received the most attention however, were in the city’s fire and police departments. Reich-Graef said five or six spots in both departments had been recently created, and there were a lot of people hoping to be hired to fill one of them.
“We have a lot of people reaching out to a fire and police officer departments for those positions, so that’s been awesome,” she said. “A lot of regional people (are) trying to come
here.”