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HR: open positions fall; employee-referral software showing early results, will be monitored
Summary
Kootenai County Human Resources reported 74 open positions as of March 3, 2025 (down 14.5% from 2024) and an ongoing trial of the AARON employee-referral recruiting software that produced 63 referrals; HR will monitor the product through December 2025 before deciding on renewal.
Kootenai County Human Resources reported on March 6 that as of March 3 the county had 74 open positions, a 14.5% decrease from the same period in 2024, and provided updates on recruiting efforts including an employee-referral platform the county began using in August 2024.
HR Director Sylvia Proud said 33 of the 74 open positions were funded at 50% for fiscal year 2025. She summarized department-specific progress: the Sheriff’s Office is down 25% in open positions compared with last year; patrol has four upcoming hires scheduled from March through August; the Sheriff’s Office had 17 open detention deputy positions with 26 people in background checks; and 10 non-supervisory "echo" positions had eight candidates in background.
Sarah Masters provided the update on the AARON referral program. Proud said the county increased the employee referral incentive from $300 to $1,000 to encourage referrals. Masters said the referral program began in August 2024 and that the county recorded 63 referrals tied to employee accounts. "We hired 146 people in 2024 and there's 63 referrals," Masters said, noting the referral number ties applicants to referring employees via the software link. Financially, the county paid a little over $17,000 in the initial year and recently received an invoice that was about $1,000 higher than the first.
HR said it will monitor the program’s effectiveness through December 2025; the county must give notice in December 2025 if it chooses not to renew. HR is conducting ongoing outreach—including e-mails, newsletters, presentations at department head meetings and new-hire orientations—to boost employee usage of the referral tool.
Why it matters: The open-position count and recruiting results are operational indicators for county hiring and public services. The employee-referral program is an active, incentivized effort to increase hires through staff networks.
No formal decisions on subscription renewal were taken at the meeting; HR will return with results and a renewal recommendation before the December 2025 notice deadline if needed.
