Hundreds attend job fair

Hundreds of southern Indiana job seekers flocked to the 2006 Bloomington Job Fair Monday in the hope of securing a living wage or the chance to climb the American socioeconomic ladder.\nRep. Mike Sodrel, R-9th, and Rep. Steve Buyer, R-4th, co-sponsored the event with the WorkOne Bloomington office, a division of Indiana's workforce development program, the second such job fair in two years. About 1,000 Hoosiers browsed more than 70 local, regional, statewide and national employers stationed in the Bloomington High School North gymnasium to offer community members hundreds of jobs immediately, toward the end of summer or sometime in the fall.\n"This is a marvelous opportunity for businesses that are hiring to get hooked up face to face with people seeking employment and new opportunities," said Jim Huston, Congressman Buyer's district director. "We have received a lot of positive feedback from employers and job seekers -- people saying they got two or three leads out of the job fair. We are hoping folks can get together and help build a better future."\nHuston said Sodrel and Buyer were on-hand at the beginning of the job fair to welcome the participating businesses and encourage the job seeking crowd because, he said, there are positive signs of hope in town despite the national economy wavering from time to time. \nAccording to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, Congressman Sodrel's 9th District has about five unemployed Hoosiers per 100 residents, and Congressman Buyer's 4th District has about the same percent of unemployed Hoosiers as of May 2006. \nTo the chagrin of some community member job seekers, not all employers attending the 2006 Bloomington Job Fair were hiring, despite the presumption more than 1,600 jobs were readily available for the taking.\nBloomington resident Kelly McGlothlin, a twelve-year civil servant and an administrative assistant for the Bloomington Employee Services Department, said the city's Parks and Recreation Department is not hiring as of now even though the 2006 Hoosier Job Fair Business Listing handout given to job seekers indicated that proposition.\n"We don't really hire during a certain time, besides the Parks and Recreation Department during the spring, but new positions are sometimes budgeted at the beginning of the year," she said. "Sometimes people leave or change positions so don't give up and keep coming back. Working for the city of Bloomington is not a cushy job -- we do work there and put taxpayers' money to good use."\nAlthough Bloomington receives about 50 applications per job opening, McGlothlin said community members can scope out future positions as they become available at www.bloomington.in.gov or by calling 349-3539.\nOther businesses represented at the job fair included fast food chains like Arby's, retail stores like Target, manufacturing industries like Toyota, life science companies like BioConvergence, employment agencies like Labor Ready, telecommunication operations like Finelight Strategic Marketing, public service organizations like Ivy Tech State College and military branches like the Indiana Army National Guard, among other business fields. Some businesses claimed to have hundreds of openings, while others advertised a few positions not available until an unspecified date, and about one-third of the businesses left more than one and a half hours before the end of the event.\nBloomington resident Gene Hilger, branch manager for Orkin Pest Control and first-time job fair attendee, said he attended the job fair to seek out "outside sale employees" for termite and pest control. He said he talked with about 30 job seekers, and he scheduled about 12 follow-up appointments to discuss one to two current job openings.\n"I haven't had much success with newspapers so I am hoping one-on-one meetings will do a little better," said Hilger, a 15-year pest control specialist. "I am looking for someone who is friendly, outgoing and has an ability to deal with a wide variety of folks because they are going to customers on their turf. ... Overall I've had a very good candidate flow, and this job fair has exposed them to a job category that probably never crossed their mind before. Pest control is an important part of people's lives -- it helps protect property and the health of the community."\nSome job seekers seemed overjoyed at the face-to-face interaction with possible employers the job fair provided, as reflected in hearty handshakes after a resume and application were exchanged for an employer business card and follow-up interview. On the other hand, some job seekers left the event dismayed after discovering few opportunities were available immediately if at all, and some employers seemed content to fill their entry-level employment needs without regard for past individual skills or training. \nMartinsville resident Nathan Shipley, who is currently employed and attended the job fair to seek out improved opportunities, said the event was great but he was looking for a job that he would enjoy while finding increased financial independence for himself. On both accounts, he said he left somewhat empty-handed even though he dished out three resumes and received information about other companies to check out online.\n"I think it's a matter of the employers finding a person like me than a person like me finding the right employer. There were a couple companies I came here to find because I knew they would be here, and other companies I found I didn't know much about," Shipley said. "You can easily take a job and it turns into an expensive hobby -- you don't make much money and you end up going nowhere. All too often you walk into a business and the employees are all crabby because they don't want to be there, and that's a pretty good sign you don't want to be there either"