Charlottesville struggling to fill hundreds of job vacancies

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Charlottesville has approved more than 1,000 jobs, but hundreds of them are still unfilled.

Interim City Manager Michael Rogers says Charlottesville is already working to get that number down.

“We recently hired a new recruiter in the Human Resource Department who will be devoted full time to recruiting to fill vacancies in the city,” Rogers said.

The city hopes to also add apprenticeships to certain jobs to prepare people for those positions.

“People may not today meet the exact qualifications of what we have, what we need, or what the job description says, but with some mentoring and training, they can eventually get up to speed,” Rogers said.

Charlottesville says it has been struggling to retain its workforce.

“As our employees are leaving us, going to work for some of our surrounding communities because the salary is better,” Rogers said. “Hopefully when we get through our compensation study and make some adjustments to our pay system that we will be able to stem that tide and stop the hemorrhaging.”

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