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Daniel Naughton (right) brought 6-month-old daughter Mackenzie to the Culpeper job fair yesterday. He is looking for work after being laid off by a government contractor.
Dan Zellers and his wife, Amanda Zellers, talk to an employer at yesterday's job fair. Zellers, 55, moved in |
While the Dow Jones stock average was flirting with 150-point gains and one talking head on CNBC was declaring that the recession was technically over, several-hundred people desperate for work were attending a job fair yesterday at Germanna Community College's Culpeper campus.
Instead of jobs, however, most saw yesterday's event--hosted by 7th District Rep. Eric Cantor, who represents the Culpeper area in Congress--as just another in a long series of frustrations.
"There are maybe two [employer] booths here that might pertain to me," declared 55-year-old Dan Zellers, who says he has been looking for a job now for more than a year.
Zellers' job as a maintenance worker was phased out in Myrtle Beach, S.C. He moved to Culpeper to live with his son and try and find work in Virginia, where the unemployment rate is well below the national average.
He has been finding sporadic "side jobs" since last October, but nothing permanent. Yesterday's job fair proved yet another disappointment.
"It seems like everything here is mostly technical," Zellers. "There doesn't seem to be much for laborers."
Zellers seemed most interested in booths operated by Culpeper County and Spotsylvania County schools. Unfortunately, Culpeper County instituted a hiring freeze at about the same time Zellers began looking for a job.
Aside from the fact that few employers at the fair actually had jobs, the main disappointment for job-seekers yesterday was that they couldn't fill out applications on the spot.
"That's the hardest thing," exclaimed 47-year-old Dean Lester, who grew up in Spotsylvania but now lives in Orange County. "Everybody wants you to fill out an application online. Nobody wants to talk to you in person. Nothing happens until you talk person-to-person."
Stephanie Dingus, a recent college graduate who has been out of work since June, shared Lester's frustration.
"They tell you, 'Don't call [human resources],'" she said. "That can be difficult. You don't get any feedback online and I wonder how I can even get my resume recognized in the system."
Earl Edwards knows all about being lost in the system.
"It is frustrating to sit home on the computer for four or five hours, find a job you know you can do and never hear back from your application," he said.
The 57-year-old Edwards, who worked for the Rochester Corp. (Tyco) in Culpeper for 24 years, lost his job two years ago when the company was sold and his department was eliminated.
Dingus, 24, was among a number of job-seekers who talked to government-related employers who were actually looking for employees. But most wanted applicants who already had security clearance.
"They don't come right out and say it, but they don't seem to want to pay for new employees to get security clearance," Dingus said.
Edwards said that when he checked into getting security clearance on his own, it was going to cost him almost $10,000.
"You pay to get security clearance and then there is no guarantee of a job," he said.
As during the Great Depression, several people at yesterday's job fair said that they, like Zellers, migrated to Virginia because they heard there were jobs here. Virginia's seasonal adjusted unemployment rate was 6.6 percent in October, compared with the U.S. rate of 10.2 percent.
Gwendolyn Brown, 23, was born and raised in Los Angeles, but graduated from James Madison University. She returned home after college but found that job openings there were almost nonexistent.
Hearing that Virginia's unemployment rate was much lower than California and knowing that the cost of living was cheaper, Brown came back east looking for a job.
She, too, was frustrated by the fact that few employers were taking applications.
"They're just telling me to go to the Web site," she explained. "And most tell me that they may not have any opportunities now but if something happens ."
About the only employers yesterday who seemed to have any promise of jobs were the federal government, Geico and the Marine Corps.
But most federal jobs require security clearance, Geico said it isn't hiring until January and about 99 percent of those who attended the fair appeared too old to join the Marines. "I'm pretty sure we won't sign anybody up today," the Marine recruiter said.
What may have been the oddest part of yesterday's event was the fact that, during the worst recession in 60 years, the turnout was low. Only about 700 people showed up for the four-hour fair, which was well publicized.
Christina Spittle, a Geico representative, said about 3,000 people attended a Virginia Employment Commission job fair in the same location two years ago.
Many of those who did come out yesterday seemed lost somewhere between frustration and desperation.
"Getting a job has become almost political," said Edwards, who added that he has never seen a job market as tight as this. "To get one, you almost have to know somebody."
And most felt that the time to be choosy had passed.
"Right now, I'm pretty much ready to settle for anything," said Lester, adding that he was prepared to move out of state if necessary.
While few--if any--actually found a job at yesterday's fair, most felt that Cantor's effort was worthwhile.
"The location is convenient," said Dingus, who lives in Warrenton, "and I could actually talk to someone."
But she added, "There was nothing here I couldn't find online."
Donnie Johnston:
Email: djohnston@freelancestar.com
