Jobs fair draws 150

Those at the Career Expo Tuesday at Trinity Baptist Church said the annual jobs fair trying to match jobs with people needing them went well.

Sharonda Pettaway, director of the Randolph County Department of Human Resources who sponsored the job fair with other organizations, said, “We had a great turnout–almost 150 seeking employment. I think we had a good variety of employees. Most of them had high school diplomas or better in terms of educational level. It was a good pool of employees.”

Nathan Wright, HR analyst at of Southwire Company in Carrollton, Ga., said he started out with 90 cards and they were almost gone.

The company is accepting general plant labor applications May 13-17 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and maintenance applications Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. always. On the web their address is www.southwire.com/jobs.

The company is North America’s leading manufacturer of wire and cable since 1950, he said.

Sarah Cox, director of Technical Education at Southern Union State Community College, said, “I’ve talked with several students interested in training. Some were wanting to go back to school and get more training.”

Kathy Sellers, unit supervisor with the Career Center, said it was a big turnout and a lot of information was given out to people that were not aware of the center’s services. That included helping with resumes or providing computers to people who are not on the Internet, as well as job training.

Isaac Chappell of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, said there are jobs in other parts of the state but they have to be applied for either at Auburn University or Alabama A&M University. Randolph County is one of his counties although he is based in Calhoun County. He is the Regional Extension Agent in charge of consumer sciences and personal finance management.

Billy Wood, district manager with Williams gas pipeline, Sara Pike and Jeremy Patterson answered questions from job seekers. Patterson said there are jobs right now in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and always in Houston, Texas but not locally. People here like their jobs and normally stay with them, he said. He said more people were at the expo last year but that might be good because some of the others might have jobs.

Onin Staffing’s Misti S. Bowen, Alexander City branch manager, said they had a lot of interest related to their business in the Opelika office and she will recommend a representative from there attend next year. She and Barbara Thomas, operations manager with the company, said they had a really good turnout. They are all over the area but said people from here might want to apply at the Opelika or Alexander City office. They can also go to www.oninstaffing.com. or like them on Facebook.

Lathonia Wright, president of the JOBS Task Force, who sponsored the fair along with the the Randolph County Economic Development Authority and DHR, said the staffing company was good for those seeking jobs needing some vocational training like welding and welding under water which is badly needed in the Mobile Bay area.

“We need painters, forklift operators, brick masons…right now we need heavy equipment operators for the county,” Wright said. Everybody doesn’t need to go to college. To build things you need crane operators, he said. The staffing agency is here looking for people who have vocational skills. Employees can get experience and move on, he said.

Cotina Terry, executive director of RCEDA, said she personally took applications for a Roanoke restaurant and a Wedowee area convenience store since they were too shorthanded to come. She said she thought the expo went well.