The $10.6 billion Alaska USA FCU operates branches in four states to serve its 712,000 members (September Call Report).
The distribution of operations includes 27 locations in Alaska, 12 in the greater Phoenix area, six in California and 22 in Washington state. Total employment (FTE’s) is 1900.
Currently its web site lists 240 openings for credit union jobs. Twelve pages with 20 positions each. That is a vacancy rate of 12%.
The number of openings poses questions such as: What is the impact on member service? How do these vacancies affect its current capabilities? Are the open positions in one area or throughout its network? Is this just another example of labor shortages across the broader economy?
A Simple Truth
In the credit union’s web site “About” section, their origin story begins:
In 1948, fifteen civil service personnel gathered in Anchorage’s Alaska Air Depot, pooled their savings and their conviction in one another, and formed a member-owned credit union.
At the heart of that decision was a simple truth—local financial institutions simply could not or would not support the credit needs of the personnel who had been recently transferred to Alaska.
This “truth” raises another possibility: As Alaska USA’s operations expand beyond Anchorage throughout the Western United States, has this lessened their “local” advantage for attracting employees? What will be the impact of going Global?