Bradley Gord asked blood donor Laura von Rosenberg to squeeze the stress ball she held in her left hand.
She looked off to her right as Gord inserted a needle into the crook of her left arm.
Gord talked to von Rosenberg as he switched out vials throughout the blood draw. Periodically, he would get up to check on other donors in the Bonfils Blood Center.
“Can I get you anything?” he asked one. “How are you doing over here?” he said to another.
It’s a process repeated again and again by Gord and other phlebotomists, or donor techs, each day in community donation centers and mobile drives across Colorado as Bonfils gathers the 3,000 units of life-saving blood needed weekly by the 100 Colorado hospitals it serves. The nonprofit also serves other areas in country when need is great.
But recruiting enough donor techs to meet growing demand is tough. It’s so tough that for the first time since 2001, Bonfils is using a job fair to recruit phelbotomists. Bonfils hopes to use the fair — 4 to 7 p.m. Monday at its Lowry headquarters — to fill about two dozen full-time positions.
“We weren’t in a growth mode in the mid-to-late 2000s, but now demand has picked up,” Bonfils spokeswoman Liz Lambert said. “Hospitals are serving more patients in Colorado because there’s more people moving to the area, so that demand keeps going up.”
Of the 360 workers employed by the Bonfils system, 134 are donor technicians.
They check in donors; take their temperature, blood pressure and other vitals; test iron levels through a finger prick; conduct confidential screenings; and manage the blood collection. They see donors through the entire process, which typically takes about an hour.
Job fair attendees will get a glimpse of the process Monday and may interview on the spot.
“Normally we post all of our openings on our website and different job sites,” Lambert said. “This effort is a way to bring people in, let them see a little of the organization and meet some of our people right off the bat.”
Bonfils is seeking new donor techs mostly for the 10 mobile blood drives it typically runs across Colorado each day. Those drives are either held in the Bonfils Bus or are set up in places such as corporate conference rooms, schools and churches.
Some workers could be placed at any of Bonfils’ seven community donation centers. Others, referred to as “floats,” could move among the various centers and drives.
Bonfils’ expansion has come in the midst of a tightened labor market. While the number of open positions and applications have increased, the nonprofit has seen a decline in the rate of applications per opening month over month for March, April and May, as well as versus that same period last year — and not just for donor techs.
“On average, we need about 10 applications per position,” Lambert said. Figures for April and May were closer to eight applications per open position.
“With unemployment being as low as it is, it’s becoming more competitive to try to attract employees,” she said.
Year-to-date unemployment in Denver metro is 3.1 percent, according to Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. Statewide, unemployment was 3.9 percent in 2015, 10th best in the country.
Bonfils opened its Parker location in May. It’s open three days a week but has been successful and may soon expand hours and days, Lambert said.
Bonfils operates six other community donor locations in Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver, Golden, Highlands Ranch and Westminster. Four of the seven blood centers are open seven days a week.
It plans to open another center in the southwest metro area late this summer and more next year.
IF YOU GO:
The job fair is scheduled from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday at the center’s headquarters at 717 Yosemite St., Denver.
The jobs require no experience. Pay starts at $13.42 per hour. Shifts are typically 12 hours, three days per week. A benefits package is available for full-time employees who work 36 hours a week or more. Basic requirements and an online application are posted on Bonfils’ website.
Potential applicants are invited to stop by the job fair to fill out a 10-minute questionnaire. Those questionnaires will be screened, and approved applicants will be invited to take a 20-minute written test for English comprehension. Management-level donor technicians will be on hand for brief interviews.
Hires won’t be made Monday evening. Some candidates may be invited to a second round of interviews. All those hired will undergo a six- to 12-week training program whether or not they have previous medical experience.