An upcoming job fair in Syracuse aims to address one of the biggest challenges facing employers…finding a qualified candidate for the job. A variety of companies will be on hand later this week in hopes of finding a match. Twiggy Billue is program coordinator for Build to Work at Jubilee Homes, which is hosting the fair.
"We're going to put work-ready participants in front of you. Those are people who can pass an I-9 requirement. Those are people who showed up for a soft skills, life skills work readiness class 40 hours, every day on time 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Those folks, once given the interview, will sell themselves."
Billue says many candidates have trouble marketing the skills they may have acquired at other jobs. She presented this scenario:
"'I used to work at Kohl's, then I went to work at a dentist's office, and now I work at a grocery store, and I'm not transitioning all those skills from each job into this larger job that might take me out of entry level.'"
Billue says job seekers and employers might not realize there is overlap in the retail, service, medical, and hospitality sectors.
"If you walk into a hospital, a country club, a golf course, there's a retail aspect to it as well as a hospitality aspect. They use the same machines. The same machines you use at your doctor's office, which are called point of service. The same point of sales machines they use at a department store, a Dunkin' Donuts, or that they use at Wegmans."
Many of the companies at Friday’s job fair have positions open within… or just outside the city limits, which Billue hopes addresses the transportation barrier facing many candidates. She also made a point to dispel some notions about the types of jobs available. For instance, Billue says there are plenty of manufacturing positions to be had.
"I'm having a hard time filling positions in manufacturing. Because there's training offered for these jobs that are producing machine operator 1's, some CNC [computer numerical control] operators, there should be this amount of jobs available in this industry, though I'm glad there are."
She says some employers might have positions that candidates might not think of…
"If you look at Frito-Lay and Rite Aid by themselves, imagine the amount of manufacturing, loading, and unloading that go into just the products they bring into the store."
The job fair will be held Friday from 9:30 to 1:30 in the gym at St. Lucy's Church on Gifford Street. Registration is required by clicking here.
