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Maartje Potterton looks over her resume with Jon Zitz of Manpower at the Job Resource Fair held at Germanna Community College. |
BY CATHY JETT
Employers were so desperate for workers in the booming Fredericksburg area three years ago that the application process was a breeze.
"If they could fog a mirror, they were hired," joked Peter Mocarski, acting manager of the Virginia Employment Commission office in Fredericksburg.
Oh, what a difference an economic downturn makes.
These days it's an employers' market, and they have the luxury of being selective, he said during a panel discussion at the Employment Resource Fair held at Germanna Community College's campus in Spotsylvania County on Tuesday.
Potential employees are now sized up the moment they walk in the door for their interview.
"Support staff is watching to see how you greet other people, and how you talk to others in the waiting room," said Amanda Talbert, who heads the Fredericksburg Regional Society for Human Resource Management chapter and is district director for the Virginia SHRM State Council.
Applicants should come prepared for a more extensive interview than in the past, as well as skills assessment tests and background checks, she said. And one of the most important things they can do during that interview is show how skills they honed at their previous job can be transferred to a new position.
"Employers want to know, 'How does this apply to my business?'" Mocarski said.
As an example, he said that someone who worked at W.J. Carpenter, a business near Madison that used to make wooden chicken coops, should say that he operated woodworking machinery or specialized in shipping, rather than "I made wooden chicken coops."
Applicants also should have researched the company before they apply, be honest during the interview, and try to prove that they'll be loyal, reliable and ethical employees if they're hired.
"Don't ask, 'When's lunch? When can I leave?'" Talbert said. "They'll read that as, 'I'm wasting my time with this person.' Instead, say, 'What's the potential for growth at this company? Are there other things I can do here?'"
The unemployment rate in the Fredericksburg area was 5.8 percent in September, which is higher than the region is used to. But that doesn't mean there aren't business sectors that are hiring, said Wayne Waldrop, director of business information services for the Virginia Department of Business Assistance. These include companies requiring people with scientific and technical skills, and health care professionals.
Waldrop also said his office is seeing an increase in the number of displaced workers interested in going into business for themselves. Requests for help from his office for this jumped 20 percent in 2008 and is up 11 percent this year.
Spotsylvania has become "a collection point" for small- to medium-size businesses related to the area's military bases to locate, said Russell Seymour, the county's director of economic development.
"They're coming and they're staying and growing in our region," he said. "They're realizing the work force is here."
Large distribution companies that haven't looked at the area for a while also are starting to come back and slowly add employees, Russell added.
Help is available in a number of places for people who are either entering the job market for the first time or who had lost a job and
Cathy Jett: 540/374-5407
Email: cjett@freelancestar.com
