City of Santa Fe holds rapid hiring event, offers incentives to new and old employees

SANTA FE, N.M. – As many employers are struggling to hire workers, the City of Santa Fe is trying a new approach. It held a large rapid hiring event Saturday, offering big sign-on bonuses for hundreds of positions, and it’s giving incentives to current employees to stay.

From filling out applications—to conducting interviews—to even offering jobs on the spot—over 100 folks stopped by the community center for this unique job fair.

When the rapid hiring event opened their doors at 9 a.m., organizers say over 50 people were already in line waiting to apply for jobs.

“We like everybody else in the country have been having a hard time hiring people the normal application process is a little time consuming for everybody, the time it takes to post the position, fill the position interview. So we decided to try something different,” said Bernadette Garcia Organization Development Specialist.

A process that could take weeks– if not months– has been condensed to just a few hours. But that’s not the only thing making this job fair stand out.

“We are really excited that we are able to offer incentives to both new hires and to current employees in order to retain them,” said Ashley Barela Assistant HR Director.

All 20 people who were hired Saturday also got a $1,000 signing bonus.

But the incentives don’t stop there— next week all city employees will get a $2,000 retention bonus just for continuing to work for Santa Fe.

“Not only are we looking for new people, but we really want to make sure we are retaining the talent that we have with the city here today," said Barela.

“We just hope that we get the city fully staffed again so we are just really excited about being able to hire people," said Garcia.

Because of the success of this event city organizers said they are already looking into holding another rapid hiring event in Santa Fe.