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Job seekers, employers converge on job fair
Published 9/15/2010 in Local News
By DEREK THOMPSON
Job seekers from around southwest Kansas gathered at the Clarion Inn Tuesday in hopes of landing employment.
Booths representing employers from a variety of industries, including retail, health, food and others, lined the walls of the hotel's conference room as part of the Finney County Job Fair.
Daniel Berg, management trainee with Irsik and Doll, said about 20 people expressed interest in the company within the first three hours of the six-hour fair.
"We've had a good turnout and a lot of people out looking for jobs today. We've had some good interest in our company, as well, so that's been a positive," Berg said.
About 200 job seekers attended the fair, according to Lonna DuVall, director of business retention with the Finney County Economic Development Corp. Organizers of the fair have not kept exact attendance numbers from previous fairs, but Tuesday's turnout is an "average number" for attendance, DuVall said.
Tegan Matthews, corporate service representative with Terracon Consultants, an engineering consulting company, said she was surprised by the turnout at the fair.
"I think it's going better than we expected it to do," Matthews said.
Tano Tovilla, recruiting specialist with Seaboard Foods, a food processing company, said the job fair provided "a great opportunity to find quality people."
Gracie Hudson, recruiter with St. Catherine Hospital, was looking to fill lab assistant, secretarial and other positions at the job fair. Hudson has taken part in the job fair for the past seven years, and she said this year's fair was slow.
"It's a little slow, and there doesn't seem to be as many employers here today, either," Hudson said.
Job seeker Robert Munoz felt like the employer options were lacking at the fair, also.
"I was expecting more employers, I guess. Just with the economy, it's just about what there is right now," Munoz said.
Munoz said he hasn't had much luck in the last year that he's been searching for employment in the nursing field. He said he felt "a little discouraged" by the job fair.
According to the Kansas Department of Labor, Finney County's unemployment rate sits at 5 percent, nearly 2 percent lower than the state average of 6.9 percent.
Twenty-five employers were represented at the fair, according to DuVall. Last year's fair had around 40 employers total, including about 15 self-employment opportunities, DuVall said. This year, only direct employers were represented at the fair, making the number of actual employers roughly the same as in previous years, she said.
"In past years, we've had more of the self-employment opportunities, like your Avons and Mary Kays, and this year we don't have those," Duvall said. "We really wanted to focus on primary job opportunities for people."
The job fair was sponsored by FCEDC, Center for Independent Living Southwest Kansas, Mosaic, the Garden City Area Chamber of Commerce, the Garden City Community College Business and Industry Institute, Fort Hays State University and Kansas Works.
At least one job seeker, Steven Fulton, was satisfied with the job fair. He said he scheduled an interview and had filled out four or five applications.
"Right now, it's a little tough, but hopefully it'll pick up," Fulton said about the economy. "From the looks of it, there's a lot of opportunity with everyone here."
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