Uponor and Aerotek host September job fairs across Twin Cities

With two expansions and booming construction demand, Uponor North America will host yet another manufacturing job fair at its Apple Valley headquarters Thursday, Sept. 14 from 3 to 6 p.m.

The maker of plumbing and heating pipes hopes to fill 20 positions including those for material handlers, warehouse clerks, extrusion and packaging operators and maintenance technicians.

The job fair, at 5925 148th St W. in Apple Valley, is Uponor's fourth in about a year and is spurred by the growing commercial and residential construction industry, officials said.

A job fair earlier this year led to 50 new hires, while fairs last year resulted in 100 new workers for the rapidly growing firm. Now the company needs more.

Uponor, which makes PEX pipes and other supplies for the heating and air conditioning industries, is engaged in a $17.4 million expansion of its Apple Valley factory that should be completed in January 2018.

Last month Uponor bought a $6.4 million building in Hutchinson that it will renovate into a factory that makes pipes for plumbing, fire sprinkler, radiant heating and cooling systems. Renovations should be complete in early 2019, officials said.

Worker shortages are pressuring manufacturers across Minnesota and the country and in some cases are stifling growth, complain industry experts and economists. Some factory heads have taken to adjusting job qualifications and training new hires themselves in the hopes of getting more workers in the door. Others are fanning out and conducting more job fairs at colleges, city centers and inside factories in the hopes they can snag new hires who already have the skills employers need.

Aerotek, a staffing firm in Golden Valley, will host two job fairs Saturday Sept. 9 with the hopes of filling 500 manufacturing, engineering, construction and medical positions for clients across the Twin Cities. Aerotek's two job fairs will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Earl Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center at the Minneapolis Airport Marriott Hotel in Bloomington.

Aerotek business operations director Matt Lipp said in a statement that the 500 positions he needs to fill range from temporary jobs to contract-to-hire jobs to permanent posts. Perspective applicants looking for more information should call Emily Scheisser at Aerotek at (952) 594-8626 or view https://www.aerotek.com/jobs/results?location=Minneapolis.