Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1544876
S P R I N G 2 0 2 6 / W O R K F O R M E 23 you run a 182-room resort with several restaurants and an 18-hole oceanside golf course, you need a lot of employees in housekeeping, in the kitchens, as groundskeepers and behind the front desk. "We're competing against everybody else in the Midcoast, so it's hard," Russell says. "But in the end, it's more about get- ting people to interview, share our culture and take them on a tour, and that usually works. We're just trying to them here first and foremost." Economic driver Tourism is the state's largest in- dustry and a massive economic driver. Maine had about 10 mil- lion visitors during the 2025 summer and fall tourist seasons, from May to November. Visitors spent an estimated $6.8 billion, according to the Maine Office of Tourism. Businesses develop their own hiring approaches that work for them, and many rely on workers who hold H-2B or J1 visas. The H-B visa program allows U.S. employ- ers to bring foreign workers to the U.S. to fill temporary nonag- ricultural jobs. The J1 program is aimed primarily at students from abroad to take part in work- and study-based programs. The Samoset, for one, expects to have 46 H-2B and J1 visa hold- ers on its payroll this year, and it offers perks such as free meals and complimentary access to its fitness center and golf course to attract workers. Luke's Lobster was aiming to hire 32 H-2B visa holders to work as line cooks at its Luke's Lobster and Dry Dock restaurants in Portland this summer, says Morgan Kamensky, who is at the front lines of the restaurants' hiring efforts. Luke's has about 350 year- round employees at its 27 eater- ies across the country, a number that swells to about 600 during the peak summer and fall months. Seating capacity at those restau- rants more than doubles during the summer with outdoor seating. In recent years, Luke's Lobster has partnered with Saddleback Mountain ski resort in Rangeley, allowing for H-2B visa holders to work at Saddleback during the ski season and at Luke's Lobster in the summer and fall. The federal government this year issued the same number of H-2B visas as in recent years, but there's always a lot of paper- work, expense and uncertainty for employers when petitioning to be allotted the visas. "We sort of hold our breath every year and say what are the numbers, what's happening with this program, how's our lottery as- signment?" Kamensky says. "We've been very lucky, knock on wood and cross our fingers. Every year we've gotten the visas we need." H o s p i t a l i t y L . L . B E A N H E A D Q UA RT E R S | F R E E P O RT, M E H O N E S T R E L AT I O N S H I P S . G R E AT P E O P L E . C O M M U N I T Y F O C U S E D. Q UA L I T Y C O N S T R U C T I O N . JOIN OUR TE AM. Z AC H AU CO N S T R U C T I O N . CO M / C A R E E R S Helping connect people, communities, and businesses to build Maine's workforce of the future. Yeah, that's MDF. MORE INFO: MDF.ORG C O N T I N U E D O N F O L LO W I N G PAG E » We've been very lucky, knock on wood and cross our fingers. Every year we've gotten the visas we need. — Morgan Kamensky, Dry Dock