THOMSON, Ill. — The Thomson Penitentiary is looking to hire more employees through job fairs around the area. Local union representative with the prison Jon Zumkehr says they have 100 open correctional officer positions at Thomson.
Zumkehr says it causes all sorts of problems for the prison. Staff have to work a lot of overtime to help fill in the gaps right now, but that is what Zumkehr is hoping to change with the job fairs. As of now, every applicant is helpful.
Kyle Kaye was one of applicants that showed up at the fair. He shared it’s something he’s been looking to do for a while now. “I currently work security right now. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while now but haven’t had the time to do.”
Kaye wants to be a correctional officer at the prison. For him the benefits are well worth the wait it takes to get the job. Zumkehr says it takes about 6 months to fully be hired. It’s one of the downfalls of getting people to apply for the jobs. Zumkehr saying, “It’s hard because they’ll find a job at a different factory in the local area. Direct hire same day they would get a job offer.”
The union is working now with representatives from the area to allow for direct hires. It would let the prison hire people on the spot. Zumkehr says he thinks this would make the jobs more appealing.
Another main goal of the prison right now is to work on employee retention. They want to get to 25% retention rate. Right now employees average out at 18 months before leaving. “If we don't retain the officers we have it'll be the cycle that never ends. We’ll be hiring new people and losing our experienced staff.”
The prison has hired 50 new correctional officers in the past 6 months from the job fairs. They hope to keep moving them around the area to meet candidates where they are. Zumkehr says they hope to make the process as easy as possible for applicants.