Wellfleet like many towns on Cape Cod faces an acute labor shortage in the summer months, and it would be impossible for local business to meet the demand for services without importing a fairly significant amount of help. Like many other businesses in the area, we fill a large amount of this need through J1 exchange students. Every year we here a number of these students. The process itself requires a lot of work every year from us. We have to review many applications and try to assemble a group of people who we think will get along with each other well, keeping in mind past amnesties while at the same time we try to assemble the most diverse group possible to provide a rewarding experience for everyone involved and that’s the easy part. It is necessary for us to have students with staggered arrival and departure dates so that we can acclimatize them with the area and to help them settle in. The number of students that we higher is based upon our ability to secure housing for everyone something that’s always a challenge considering the local housing market. This all has to happen in the winter months. Honestly, we would higher, even more staff to meet the demand for Cape Cod cleaning services. Housing is a major limiting factor. We try to set everything up to try to make sure that everyone has a good experience.
