Kirkwood job fair highlights tight job market

Posted on Nov 10, 2009 by Admin.

Jennifer Lammers (from left) of Cedar Rapids looks over the material given to her by Kyle Raddatz of Cedar Rapids at the sign in table at the Kirkwood Community College Career Fair at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday November 10, 2009.

For job-seekers weary of a soft job market, Tuesday’s Kirkwood Community College Fall Career Fair was a reason to hope.

Some employers are still hiring. About 54 employers turned out for the three-hour event, down only about 10 percent from a year ago. Most indicated they were hiring, if only for a small number of positions.

Junge Control Inc. of Cedar Rapids, a producer of automated blending systems for livestock operations, was seeking a marketing director and product manager, and finding lots of interest.

“Not only are we getting Kirkwood students, but lots of more experienced people,” said Tracy Buresh, who was manning the company’s booth.

This was not a job-seeker’s nirvana, however. Many of the jobs were hard-to-fill positions. Some required weekend and evening hours. Others would do for supplemental income, but didn’t provide what could realistically be considered a living wage.

“If you have special skills, there appears to be at least something out there,” said Chad Glackin, 35, of Cedar Rapids. “If you’re looking for something in customer service, it seems to be nights and weekends and $8 or $9 an hour, and no benefits for six months.”

Glackin had been looking for work in St. Louis to pay his way through college, but couldn’t find a job that provided enough income. “It’s not much better than it was down there,” he said.

Sherman Hines, 55, of Burlington, stood out among the job-seekers, wearing a well-worn Sundowner hat that he rarely removed during his last assignment as an electrical inspector for a U.S. contractor in Kuwait. Hines said traveling to Cedar Rapids enabled him to drop off some documents for an employer that he could not e-mail because of a computer problem at home, but he also hoped to find other opportunities.

“The economic downturn in the Burlington area’s quite severe,” Hines said. He was finding more employers interested in hiring in Cedar Rapids than at a Burlington area career fair, but he wasn’t sure he could find something in his field.

“I have a skill set as a maintenance person, and I’m averse to just throwing them to the wind,” Hines said. “I like to fix things.”

More than 500 job seekers were expected to come through the fall job fair, according to Danielle Ebaugh, career services coordinator for the college. That’s up about 25 percent from the 400 who attended the college’s 2008 fall career fair.

Morris Pounds, career counselor for Kirkwood, said he encourages attendees to forget their worries and preconceived notions about employers, and engage them in a conversation.

“They’ve been depressed and reserved,” he said. “They’re afraid to ask questions.”

He tells job seekers not to wait for a call back, but to try to set up another appointment with the employer to talk specifics.