CRYSTAL CITY, Va. – People lined up, on the hunt for an illusive, and precious commodity this morning, a job. Monster.com made the second stop of its “Keep America Working Tour” today in Crystal City. About 1500 job seekers pre-registered for the job fair hoping to find work. Men and women of all ages and experience showed up, many dressed in business suits, their resumes in hand. Some arrived more than two hours before the doors opened at 10:00 am.
Michelle and Greg Gamble were first and second in line. The husband and wife are both out of work. He lost his banking job in December. “It’s really a shock. You don’t expect that kind of thing to happen when you’ve been working steadily and then all of a sudden the rug gets pulled out from under you,” he said.
His wife, Michelle, is transitioning careers. She graduated in June with her MBA. She’s looking for an entry level position in Human Resources but has found jobs elusive. “There are quite a few jobs but there are lots of people who are competing for the jobs that are available,” Mrs. Gamble has discovered. In many cases, she says layoffs mean she is competing against more experienced and qualified people.
Monster.com, the leading online job site is taking the job fair on the road, making 140 stops in a year long tour. At the first stop in New York, nearly four thousand people turned out, with lines snaking around the block. “In the New York event it was really exciting to see interviews happening in the hallways. people who were giving us feedback that they were very optimistic about the fact that this could change their situation,” said Eric Winegardner, Vice President for Monster.com.
The job fair comes at a critical time with unemployment hitting a 25-year high. The fair in Crystal City, has nearly 30 employers looking to fill more than 500 jobs combined. Many companies say flexibility is key to landing a job, even if it’s not in your current career field. Infocurrent a records management company, expects to see a lot of resumes for the 10-jobs it needs to fill.
“Someone’s skills who was probably good at maybe it can maybe transition into information management, library sciences records management,” said Adil Scott a staffing specialist for the company.
Right now 12.5 million people are looking for work across all types of jobs: blue collar and white collar. Monster’s job fair drew people just starting their careers and those mid-career with 10 or even 20 years of experience. Federico Garay worked in information technology for eight years. The 25-year old lost his job in November but this time he’s had a much more difficult time finding work. “I normally get a job within couple of weeks after I post my resume up. it’s been tough,” he said. He’s hopeful he’ll find a job and is willing to put his skills to work in another field. Monster.com plans to come back to the area with three more stops in DC May 28, June 4, and November 20. The locations are still being determined. The job fair tour will also stop in Falls Church, Virginia September 10 and November 18 and stop in Baltimore, Maryland June 2, September 2 and November 19.
Some economists believe unemployment will reach double digits by the end of this year, topping out around 11% by mid 2010. As word begins to spread and the job market worsens, Monster.com expects the number of people attending its job fairs will grow exponentially.
March 9, 2009
source: myfoxdc.com