The mission of the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce is to improve the quality of life for everyone in our community. We achieve this by promoting the growth and development of the business community through opportunities in networking, education and training.   

As the pandemic took over the national and local conversation, our economic development efforts continued, and promotion of our area’s assets never stopped. We continue to work to attract new companies to the area, which will allow for a more diverse set of employment opportunities for our citizens as our economy slowly reopens.

With increasing frequency, our chamber members are telling us that they cannot fill open positions for their existing businesses. The Vicksburg Warren Chamber of Commerce recently asked our members to validate these claims with a survey. The response was overwhelming with over 260 job opportunities being reported within the first few hours after the email went out. 

These jobs are in industries that vary from manufacturing to restaurants, tourism, healthcare and banking. These are unparalleled times when we have employers reporting more jobs available than people seeking jobs.

While the “Great Pause of 2020” is slowly subsiding, and we sure hope it will soon be a thing of the past, our business community, as well as our citizens, look for a path forward and sense of normalcy that we hope can soon be achieved.

At the Chamber of Commerce, we feel confident that as vaccination efforts accelerate, more people will seek and fill the jobs available. Our businesses depend on the local workforce and are in a critical situation when they can’t fill the positions they need to operate and grow.

As chairman of the Board of the Chamber of Commerce, and part of the Vicksburg Warren Economic Development Partnership, I want to inform the community of the many job opportunities available. We are committed to helping the business community, and workers return to work in a safe, successful, and sustainable way to allow for an expedited reopening of our entire region’s economy.

The list of companies seeking employees is long and includes companies like Industrial Wood Products, Vicksburg Forest Products, Unified Brands, Batesville Company, Cappaert Manufacturing, McDonald’s, Ameristar, Chick-fil-A, among others.

Individuals are welcome to call the Chamber of Commerce for a full list of companies seeking employees and to get further guidance on how to apply for the jobs available.

 

Carl Hearn is chairman of the Vicksburg-Warren Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors