Published: April 15, 2009 10:06 pm      

More than 700 applicants come out for job fair

More than 700 applicants showed up Wednesday at Tamarack with high hopes of finding a job at The Register-Herald’s Spring 2009 Job Fair.

Dallas Parsons, a 28-year old coal truck driver, traveled from Wyoming County in hopes of finding a job.

He was laid off last month.

“For the last five years I’ve been hauling coal. Things just got so slow, there wasn’t anything to keep me busy,” Parsons said.

He says he’s open to new positions. Right now, he just needs “a job” to support his family.

“I’ve never been on unemployment or compensation. I’d kind of like to keep it that way,” he said.

“I don’t have to be driving. That’s what I’ve done the most of, but I can do other things to. I can learn really quick. We have a vehicle payment. A house payment. Everything’s expensive anymore.”

Connie Bennett and her husband Teddy traveled from Rupert. Both are currently out of work.

“I’m down to less than half of what I was making. You still got your bills to pay, and there’s nothing else you can do,” Connie said.

She was laid off from her supervisory position at The Greenbrier in January. She spent 10 years working there.

“I’ll take anything that is over what unemployment is paying me,” she said.

At 52, Connie says it’s difficult to find a job when she’s competing against younger applicants who graduate high school with up-to-date technology training.

“I’m not up on the new computer technology. I would have to go back to school to learn everything that they’re learning right now in high school,” she said.

“I can run a computer and I can do all the systems I’m used to, but there’s a lot I don’t know.”

Connie says the only blessing is that her children are already grown and she doesn’t have an entire family to support.

Employers at the fair said they were pleased with the applicants at the fair.

Capt. Jeff Shumate, chief of detectives for the Beckley Police Department, said he saw a wide range of applicants — males and females of diverse ages and backgrounds.

“Usually we visit local colleges and speak with people who have recently graduated or have taken some criminal justice classes,” Shumate said.

“But this has been a good location to speak to people who are interested in employment. I’m very pleased with the response we’ve seen today.”

Shumate says his department currently has one open position. It expects to have another next month.

He encourages anyone who couldn’t attend the fair to stop by police headquarters on Prince Street office or city hall for an application.

At the Jan-Care employment table, C.J. Fortner said he also saw a wide array of applicants.

“We’ve seen a lot of professionals from early workforce to mature workforce. People that are looking to change jobs or they’ve been laid off and the economy’s affected their lifestyle,” he said.

Fortner had several open positions he was looking to fill for a new EMT apprentice program at Jan-Care.

On the other side of the room, Debbie Bagby set up a booth in hopes of recruiting new individuals for the Pittsburgh PIA truck driving program.

“I’ve seen a lot of people,” she said. “For me, I want laid-off workers. I’m referring them to Workforce West Virginia to get funding to come to school, cause I’m looking for students, not drivers. And there’s been a lot of laid-off people coming through here today.”

Employers at the fair also included the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, Global Contract Services, Taggart Global Electric, Snyder of Berlin, West Virginia Department of Education, Beckley Veterans Administration Medical Center, Echostar DishNetwork, U.S. Army, West Virginia National Guard, Greenbrier Valley Medical Center and Tamarack.

— E-mail:

jayres@register-herald.com