Sep. 28—You can't go anywhere in the Rochester area without seeing them.

"Now hiring" signs are posted in windows and electronic billboards, at Rochester manufacturing and meat processing plants, at convenience stores and school bus companies — everywhere.

Today, jobseekers sit in the catbird seat. The unemployment rate stands at a low 3 percent in Rochester and 2.8 percent in Olmsted County. The labor participation rate is in decline. And employers are desperate for workers.

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But there is another wrinkle that is making the pursuit of employees by employers and companies so challenging.

Jinny Rietmann, executive director of Workforce Development, Inc., calls it an "opportunity mismatch." The pandemic, now in its second year, has scrambled and changed people's priorities.

Employers have responded by upping their wages and increasing benefits. Yet, the jobs available today are not always the jobs that people want.

People have changed priorities and careers during the last 18 months. They are asking for more flexibility. Many prefer the option of working remotely. Parents who quit their jobs in the midst of the pandemic to care for children have learned to adapt without two full-time wage earners.

Rietmann stands at the intersection between the jobseekers and the companies and employers looking for workers. She has been in workforce development for two decades. It gives her a unique perspective and what she sees is different from previous years.

"There's all these different facets happening at the same time that is creating this perfect storm," she said.

How is the employment landscape different from previous years?

Work changes with the economy. If you think back to 2009, '10, '11, we had lines out the door of dislocated workers who were looking for employment and not near enough jobs for those individuals. Our unemployment rates were high. And now it's come full swing to the other side where we are dealing with employers who are starving for help. And there are not enough bodies to fill the positions out there.

What's different about today's job market?

We know about the workforce shortage. But then there's this other wrinkle that we're dealing with right now. I keep calling it "the opportunity mismatch." There are individuals out there who are seeking careers and looking for jobs, and there are employers needing to fill positions, but they're not always matching. And it's not a skills gap.

What's an example of an opportunity mismatch?

We know that the construction and trade sector, for example, needs people, but we're also hearing from career seekers. They're applying for dozens of different jobs in that sector and not getting an interview or not even getting a call back.

There's also a lot of individuals who are leaving their careers or leaving the sector that they worked in, whether it be retail or hospitality. Health care is another example where we are hearing from a lot of career-seekers who are kind of jumping ship, because they are concerned about their health or they've had changing priorities over the last years.

We are in one the worst workforce shortages our state has ever seen. Yet, there's all these other changes happening with people changing priorities and careers. Add in the scare of COVID and having kids at home or not, being unsure about child care and school. There's all these different facets happening at the same time that is creating this perfect storm.

What is causing the disconnect?

The types of jobs people are looking for are not matching what's out there. So we're definitely seeing that piece of it where, again, with people changing priorities and changing careers over the last year and half.

Then there's this other side of the coin. Individuals are applying for jobs that are out there and not getting connected. I honestly don't have the answer to (why it's happening). But what I'm hearing is employers — and this is coming from the career seeker's side — are saying that they're opening up their applicant pool, but not actually, you know, really opening up their applicant pool . So are they really changing their hiring practices?

If you're a company that has always said 'we require five years of experience.' A lot of employers are changing those requirements because of the workplace shortage. But is that hiring manager, is that person who is reading that application really changing that practice? I think that's one thing that we're running into.

So, it's a jobseeker's market. What are they asking for?

I think one of the biggest things that we've seen as a change is flexibility and more commitment to family. What we're seeing over the last year and a half because of COVID is that people needed to stay at home with their kids in school or childcare issues. So I think that flexibility piece is definitely something that career seekers are demanding.

What industries are most acutely facing a worker shortage?

It's just about every sector. We've been in a health care shortage for years, but now it's even worse. Restaurant and hospitality — those kinds of positions that were so effected by COVID. That sector has been hit so hard. And now a lot of folks aren't going back into that sector. We know that there's a shortage for manufacturing and construction and trades as well. It really does go across sectors.

You said earlier that recruitment strategies are different. They are focusing on getting people off the sidelines.

Recruitment is totally different. Now we're not just recruiting people to work for said company. Now it's almost like we're recruiting people into the workforce. And that's a much different recruitment strategy. Because as individuals have left the workforce or they're not entering the workforce or workforce participation has gone down, it's a different recruitment. It's not only recruitment to your company. It's recruitment into the workforce.