Job hunters, employers meet at boot camp
Congeressman Mark Critz, (D) Johnstown, address the crowd at the Job Hunter's Boot Camp held in the Natali Student Center on the campus of California University of Pennsylvania.
Yvonne Lyon (left) of Washington talks with Mary Bruno, Human Resources Director of Pathways of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Jason A. Fincke (left) of the Builders Guild of Western Pennsylvania talks with Joe Shaver of California about opportunities in the building trades.
Thomas Chetosky (left) of McClellandtown talks with Bill Lawler and Josh Grimes of Valley National Security.
The Job Hunter's Boot Camp held in the Natali Student Center on the campus of California University of Pennsylvania.
?CALIFORNIA 鈥� More than 200 area job-seekers showed up Tuesday for the Job Hunters Boot Camp at California University of Pennsylvania sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mark Critz, D-Johnstown.
There were 52 exhibitors at the event either seeking new employees or offering education and training programs. Critz said that growing up all he heard about was the need for jobs in southwestern Pennsylvania to replace those lost in the steel industry. Critz said that now that he is in Congress and serving on the small business committee, he has an opportunity to help this region. In April he sponsored a grant resource seminar at Penn State/Fayette, the Eberly Campus, providing area companies with information on landing government grants.
鈥淲hat I鈥檓 trying to do is bring people who need employees together with people looking to find work, and hopefully it works out,鈥� Critz said.
Maria Fronzaglio of Brownsville Marine Products said she was pleased with the turnout.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got a lot of applications from people who are interested and some potential employees,鈥� Fronzaglio said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e always looking for welders, fitters and machine operators.鈥�
鈥淭here don鈥檛 seem to be as many people as we usually encounter, but they seem to be more experienced,鈥� said Matt Kurth of Mountain Top Excavation in New Kensington, with job sites in Washington and Greene counties.
Andrew Marietta of Connellsville recently graduated from high school and is looking for a job to raise money for college.
鈥淚 was looking to get into one of the well-drilling services or something like that,鈥� Marietta said.
Mark Windle of Range Resources said there was a lot of interest in his booth by job hunters.
鈥淭he majority of the jobs in the natural gas industry aren鈥檛 going to be with Range, but with one of our vendors. We put 5,000 people to work in southwestern Pennsylvania every day,鈥� Windle said.
He offered job hunters lists of the vendors Range uses and descriptions of the various jobs.
The job fair offered a ray of hope to some of the job hunters, like Chris Shipe of Charleroi who lost his job in Pittsburgh two months ago.
鈥淥ne person asked for my resume and two asked me to fill out an application,鈥� Shipe said. 鈥淚 got here about 10 minutes after it opened and it was already crowded.鈥�
Brittany Rebar of the Charleroi area was filling out an application for one job and had the websites to fill out online applications for other positions. Rebar said she was looking for anything from security to cleaning to food service -anything to replace the job she lost when her former employer lost a contract.
鈥淚t蘑菇视频 a great place to fill out a lot of applications, with all the employers in one spot and to meet different people and to see what蘑菇视频 available that you may not have known about,鈥� Rebar said.
See related video at www.HeraldStandard.com.