8/10/2009 10:15:00 PM Job seekers flock to opportunities
Jason Soifer/The Daily Courier
Hundreds of people are trying for jobs with Hobby Lobby, an arts and crafts store opening in the Prescott Valley Crossroads shopping center at the end of August.
It's fair to say that this past weekend's job fair in Prescott Valley was a bittersweet event.
On one hand, hundreds of people came out for the fair at Yavapai College's campus here in town eager and willing to improve their job status.
But it also reflects people's struggles in trying to land a consistent paycheck with an area unemployment rate of 9.2 percent.
"The (fair) turnout was terrific, there's just a lot of terrific people out here that just need employment," Hobby Lobby Store Manager Sherrie Bice said.
Bice said approximately 180 people took job applications for the store at the career fair this past Friday and Saturday.
Mary Baker, fair chairperson and foundation board member, said more than 600 people went to the two-day fair to check out the 30 employers and roughly 125 jobs up for grabs.
Baker said people from Wilhoit, Cottonwood, Phoenix and Flagstaff were looking for job opportunities.
"It was hard," she said. "It was also sad to know that we can not fill 600 positions."
But Baker said it also gave job seekers hope that's lacking in today's tough economy.
"They left with a little bit more of encouragement than when they came," she said.
Foundation Executive Director Gary Marks agreed.
"The best part about it was people left with jobs too," he said.
The silver lining in the dim job market locally is the number of new employers coming on line between now and Thanksgiving Day.
Greg Fister, manager of economic development for the town, said CVS/pharmacy, Chase Bank, Hobby Lobby and Fudruckers restaurant are adding more than 100 jobs to the local economy before the holidays.
While those jobs aren't paying $30 an hour, they are a paycheck that helps cover the bills, according to Fister.
"Those businesses are giving area residents an opportunity to work," he said.
That mix of eagerness and despair for a paycheck continues to drive people to Hobby Lobby, which had more than a dozen people waiting in line for an application at 8 o'clock Monday morning for a shot at one of about 40 positions, according to Bice.
"It's just so nice to see that kind of interest," she said.
Ray Mayer, a co-manager who works at the Mesa store and is helping get the store here up and running, said the mix of people applying was amazing.
Mayer said he used to see college kids come for applications.
Those same job seekers are now fighting it out with professionals and middle-aged people thrust into a dicey job market, according to Mayer.
"The cross-section here has been all across the board," he said. "I've never seen it before, it's a reflection of the times."
Jacob Rosenberg, 17, is one of those students seeking a job.
The Bradshaw Mountain High School senior said he filled out applications for everything from fast food places to a supermarket.
"It's hard, it's really hard, but you've just got to keep at it," he said.
Reader Comments
Posted: Thursday, August 13, 2009
Article comment by:
Linda
Awwww! Now Christopher, it sounds like you are definetly against hard work and minimum wage. You are one of many that think because you don't get $30 an hour shouldn't work. Thank god for friends and family! You are one of those that feel I owe you because I make more money than you ever will with your degree! I do not have a degree except in honesty and integrity and that with hard work got me where I am today! There is such a thing as listening, doing and creativity to get you up the ladder and to the standards you wish to live.
Posted: Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Article comment by:
It’s all relative!
It is never too late. Where there’s a will there is a way. I was out of work for two years and took any low paying job I could, because it’s what I had to do. Remember the only way to dig out of the hole is to use your own shovel. Tenacity is the key to anything. Don’t let yourselves be slaves to the machine.
Posted: Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Article comment by:
Christopher
Many of experienced the same conditions back in the Reagan Recession. I would not fill out the education section of a job application because of employer concerns that once the economy turned around you would leave for better pay. Damn Right! The choices confronting the then Reagan Administration was between unemployment or inflation. They chose to control inflation at the the cost of jobs growth and played 'generational politics'. Likely because my generation had either lost the war, or protested the war. I decided to swallow my pride and apply for Circle K job. The event at the headquarters in Phoenix had lines that went around the building with maybe a thousand applicants for a hand full of minimum wage job. What a waste of time. I worked the underground economy on a cash basis doing handyman and odd jobs. Then, I went back for the graduate degree (ate a lot of Ragu and peanut butter, drove clunkers without current registrations and insurance, rented with 6 or 7 friends in one house or prevailed upon friends and family for a place to stay, and ignored the bill collectors). My best advice to the young folks seeking jobs is this. Go back to school and continue your education. Don't waste your time applying for the handful of min wage jobs. The education level is only a limitation to the min wage employer. Go get your degrees or advanced degrees. This economy too will pass. Oh yes, the most important lessen is never, never under any circumstances vote Republican (again)!
Posted: Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Article comment by:
Too Late-Pathetic!
It is sad that America has come to a point were jobs are extinct and the ones that exist pay less money than you can live on.
This started with the walmartization of our economy back in the 80's.
Then NAFTA in the Clinton era and sucked out more jobs.
It will not get any better ever.
Those jobs listed in this article pay less than 10 bucks an hour and try to live in the tri-city area on these corporate substandard wages.
Pathetic!!!
