The Minnesota State Fair is ready to go with a nearly full quota of employees. Fair leaders say retention and hiring patterns have largely leveled out in the wake of Covid-19.

On top of 89 employees who work full-time throughout the year, the fair also has to hire about 3,000 employees to work the 12 days throughout various sectors, such as ticketing and entertainment. This hiring process begins in January and runs until June.

“This year has been a really good year,” said Patrick Schoen, the fair’s human resource manager. “We haven’t had any issues filling any of the buckets.” Even sanitation, which is one of the fair’s tougher areas to find employees, currently doesn’t have any openings.

“One of the biggest benefits and the things that I like about working at the fair is that we are cyclical by nature,” he said. “So every year, we look at [recruitment and hiring] and figure out, how do we do it better? How do we do it more efficiently?”

The fair has a unique advantage, however, of being able to pull from a diverse applicant pool, from teenagers working their first job to retirees. “We have a really broad spectrum of folks that are interested in work, and we don’t have too many barriers,” Schoen said.

In fact, the fair has only grown more flexible when it comes to employee expectations. Previously, employees were expected to work all 12 days; now, fair leaders are meeting employees where they’re at and allowing them to work days and hours that make sense for them. “It’s something that draws a lot of people in for all different reasons, but they are all brought together to make the Great Minnesota Get-Together great.”

One of Schoen’s top priorities is retention. Last year, the fair had an employee retention rate of 68%, “which was phenomenal,” he added. There are even returning employees who’ve celebrated their 50th year working at the fair. On the recruiting side, Schoen funnels a lot of time into outreach with local community organizations and high schools.

The fair also has an employment center directly across the street on Como where the job matching, interviewing, hiring, and onboarding process is centralized. With such a high volume of jobs to fill, this makes the process more efficient for both sides. On average, pay runs from $11 an hour to $16 an hour, but it’s dependent on position and experience, he said.

Schoen sees fair employees as a cross-section of the state, where anyone can work with anyone. “There are just people from all different walks of life, all different backgrounds,” he said. “It truly is a representation of the people of Minnesota and the different backgrounds and perspectives that people have.”

The buckets of Minnesota State Fair employment from 2023: