Job Fair Madness
I went to the job fair at the local Employment Department. Wow, was that a mess! It was like rush hour at Grand Central Station, only nowhere near as well-organized.
Due to the fact that the US economy has been in the toilet for a while, many employers around here have been laying off people left and right. It's been all over the local news. One company alone laid off more than a thousand people (and this isn't that big of a town!). Needless to say, there were a hell of a lot of people at the Job Fair -- as in, several hundred** -- and I don't think the Employment Department planned on it. The parking lot was, naturally, maxed out and residential streets for blocks around were crammed with parked cars. The building they housed the fair in could only legally hold about 125± people at a time, and I don't think any of the workers knew the whole story on how to handle the crowds, as we heard different things from different workers. People were let in randomly, cutting in front of others or getting shoved to the side...it was just chaos.
Fortunately, the weather outside was quite pleasant, so many of us stood outside talking while waiting for our "turns". There are so many people who have been out of work for a long time -- I haven't been able to find a permanent job in a year and a half, and even the temporary jobs have dried up -- and folks are hurting, and angry. Lots of fierce ranting against the current administration, who just can't (or won't) see that we are, indeed, in the midst of a serious recession. What, you think all of us are out of jobs because we're LAZY?! And only now are they making any effort to do something about it. Geeze, it's been going on for ages, you think maybe you should?!
When I got into the fair, it was all retail stores looking to hire seasonal help. That's it. And I'd already applied to several of them. And they all wanted online applications. Sheesh, I could've done that at home without wasting my time and my gas driving there!
:sigh: I hope next year is better. I hope the next administration has a plan for getting us out of this mess, even if it's just reviving the New Deal to start with. I'm trying to remain positive, but it's very difficult.
**ETA: According to this article: http://www.kmtr.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=20a59b1e-f10d-4a45-9331-90717e62683c there were nine hundred people at that job fair.
Due to the fact that the US economy has been in the toilet for a while, many employers around here have been laying off people left and right. It's been all over the local news. One company alone laid off more than a thousand people (and this isn't that big of a town!). Needless to say, there were a hell of a lot of people at the Job Fair -- as in, several hundred** -- and I don't think the Employment Department planned on it. The parking lot was, naturally, maxed out and residential streets for blocks around were crammed with parked cars. The building they housed the fair in could only legally hold about 125± people at a time, and I don't think any of the workers knew the whole story on how to handle the crowds, as we heard different things from different workers. People were let in randomly, cutting in front of others or getting shoved to the side...it was just chaos.
Fortunately, the weather outside was quite pleasant, so many of us stood outside talking while waiting for our "turns". There are so many people who have been out of work for a long time -- I haven't been able to find a permanent job in a year and a half, and even the temporary jobs have dried up -- and folks are hurting, and angry. Lots of fierce ranting against the current administration, who just can't (or won't) see that we are, indeed, in the midst of a serious recession. What, you think all of us are out of jobs because we're LAZY?! And only now are they making any effort to do something about it. Geeze, it's been going on for ages, you think maybe you should?!
When I got into the fair, it was all retail stores looking to hire seasonal help. That's it. And I'd already applied to several of them. And they all wanted online applications. Sheesh, I could've done that at home without wasting my time and my gas driving there!
:sigh: I hope next year is better. I hope the next administration has a plan for getting us out of this mess, even if it's just reviving the New Deal to start with. I'm trying to remain positive, but it's very difficult.
**ETA: According to this article: http://www.kmtr.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=20a59b1e-f10d-4a45-9331-90717e62683c there were nine hundred people at that job fair.