Nearly 200 attend local job fair

Photo: Peter L. McGuire

JOB HUNTING — Kaleb Santos, Michelle Morissette and Brandon Smith fill out job applications at an April 19 job fair hosted by the South Paris Career Center and the towns of Norway and Paris.

PARIS — Twelve local and state-wide businesses were on hand to talk to nearly 200 potential employees at an April 19 job fair held at the Western Maine Community College Career Center.

Many job seekers at the fair were already employed and were looking for jobs that would pay them a higher wage, give them a more flexible schedule, or move them along a career path.

Diane Peet, an employment counselor with Western Maine Community Action (WMCA) said that, based on what she had seen in the first hour of the fair, she felt very positive.

“I have seen a lot more people filling out applications this morning,” said Peet. “I think that's a really good sign; that means that they're not only talking to employers, but the employers are actually interested enough to have them sit down and fill out applications.”

Peet says that WMCA tried to keep the job fair, the first in four years, as local as possible, inviting many businesses and prospective employees from Oxford Hills' communities to attend.

The participants were from across a diverse spectrum of age and experience.

Some people, like Dustin Surrette, were looking for more steady work to replace a part time job.

Surrette is currently employed at Lost Valley Ski Resort in Auburn, but the job is seasonal and he was only able to pick up 15 hours of work in the past week.

He said that finding a steady job was not proving to be easy. Surette is a member of the Maine National Guard, and at least one employer said that his two weeks of summer training would interfere with a potential start date.

Michelle Morrisette, another participant at the fair said that she already had a job she enjoyed, but was attending the fair to get more information on enrolling for college courses. She hoped that attending courses would boost her career in health care.

While many people who came to the fair were looking for jobs that would keep them in the area, Kaleb Santos said that moving for work was nothing new to him, and he'd be happy to take a good job, even if it was out-of-state.

Santos, who is temporarily unemployed, was hoping to get a job with the construction firm Cianbro, and said that the chances of getting hired were promising.

Brandon Smith, however, was at the fair looking for any job that would "get him back on his feet."

Smith has been unemployed for nearly a year, and says that his unemployment checks are never enough to cover basics like food and rent. He was looking for any job that could get him back into the workforce, and felt positive that he would be able to find something at the fair.