The big hunt

Cabela's may be looking for 400 workers in a tight labor market, but observers think the company will have few problems hiring a staff for its new Reno store.

Cabela's isn't looking for just any retail clerks. It needs to hire folks who have the level of specialized knowledge about hunting, fishing and other outdoors activities that its customers expect.

The company, however, doesn't expect much of a challenge in staffing the store, which is scheduled for opening in November, right before the start of the holiday shopping season.

And workforce specialists who have visited with the company about its plans say Cabela's position in the market customers view the retailer with near-religious feelings will provide a powerful tool in recruiting.

Richard Flores, a veteran Wal-Mart store manager who has been named general manager of the Cabela's operation near Boomtown in west Reno, says the company looks to hire retail staff with extensive outdoor knowledge and expertise.

But that shouldn't be difficult, he says, because of the number of outdoors enthusiasts throughout northern Nevada.

Tom Fitzgerald, chief executive officer of Nevadaworks, says Cabela's is likely to tap a pool of potential workers that isn't available to other retailers in the area.

Executives of Nevadaworks, which coordinates workforce development in the region, have met with Cabela's representatives to review the company's workforce needs.

Cabela's customers, Fitzgerald says, are so dedicated to the company that many of them are likely to jump at an opportunity to work for the Nebraska-based company.

That's especially true, he says, because about two-thirds of the positions at the Reno store will be part-time allowing people with full-time jobs in other careers to take night and weekend positions with the outdoors retailer.

"The kind of people they attract are those who worship Cabela's," Fitzgerald says.

The company's pay and benefit package which includes a college education benefit is likely to draw some workers away from other retail employers in the region, a Nevadworks analysis found.

With total retail employment of about 25,000 in the Reno-Sparks area, the Cabela's store will add about 1.5 percent to the region's retail job base.

Retail employment in the region softened a little in June compared with a month earlier falling by about 1,100 jobs, the state department of employment says but it's still running nearly 5 percent higher than mid-2006 figures.

Cabela's has estimated the 150,000-square-foot store could draw as many as 3 million visitors a year, making it one of the biggest tourist attractions in Nevada.

The company recruits employers exclusively on-line (www.cabelas.com), and all applications are submitted on-line.

"We've had some great success with that," Flores says.