Crowds fill ATEC for BBCC job fair
Lamb-Weston employees talk with a prospective job seeker at the Job and Career Fair at Big Bend Community College Thursday.
MOSES LAKE - Prospective employers lined the halls and filled the meeting room, and potential employees crowded the aisles at the Job and Career Fair at Big Bend Community College Thursday.
The career fair drew more than 60 companies, public agencies and colleges. WorkSource provided help in writing a resume, preparing for job interviews and completing job applications.
Colleges and training schools had information on their curriculums, and BBCC sent representatives of 11 training programs, ranging from welding to aviation.
Manufacturers, companies in aerospace, health care and technology, service industries, food processing and retail set up booths with information about the companies and in some cases solicited applications.
"It gives you a lot more information about what they're looking for," Jonathan Power, of Moses Lake, said. Power is graduating from college in June and was looking at what was available, and who might be hiring, while he could, he said. The job fair gave him a chance to talk to actual company managers, he said.
Antonio Melendez, a senior at Quincy High School, and Ricardo Estrada, a Quincy junior, were at the job fair on the advice of teachers who suggested they think about the jobs they want after high school, and the training they will need.
Melendez said he wanted to check the feasibility of summer jobs, and "see what's out there." He's got some idea what he wants to do, he said, looking at a career as a dentist, maybe starting with enlisting in the Marine Corps. But his teachers encouraged him to think about alternatives, he said, as a fallback in case that didn't work out.
"It was my first time ever coming to a job fair," Estrada said. His reading teacher suggested he start thinking about the future, and what it's going to take to get where he wants to go. "I've learned quite a bit of stuff I didn't know before."
Jared Jones has a job, but he wanted to know what else was available, "who exactly is hiring," he said. The job fair is an opportunity to see what businesses are in Grant County, he said, and what they do.
"You never know who has a position open," Tiffany Zemke, of Moses Lake, said.
Rose Holm said she wasn't really looking for a job, because she has plenty to do at home, but she was looking at possibilities for a part-time job in her field.
Besides, it didn't hurt to look around, she said. "Just in case somebody else needs a job," she said.
The job fair also included workshops, detailing some of the things employers are looking for in certain fields. The panelists also talked about salary ranges for various jobs and the training prospective employees needed in specific fields.
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