Mercer, Tazewell job services join forces to help unemployed

By Bill Archer
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

April 30, 2009 08:40 pm

— PRINCETON — The economic crisis that continues to wreak havoc worldwide, has had an impact throughout West Virginia and Virginia. For the past 18 years, WorkForce West Virginia’s Mercer County Job Service and the Virginia Employment Commission in Cedar Bluff, Va., have joined forces to help people looking for work get together with employers with an annual job fair in the spring.
While the two agencies have traditionally held the job fair at the Mercer Mall, the two-state job services will hold this year’s Southern West Virginia and Southwestern Virginia Job Fair, from 1-5 p.m., on Monday, May 4, in the Gill Reed conference room of the Mercer County Employment Service Office at 195 Davis St., Princeton.
The job fair is designed to help anyone who is having difficulty finding or keeping a job, those who want to learn more about the local job market as well as individuals who would like to learn more about the job services of Mercer and Tazewell counties.
“We haven’t heard from too many employers yet, but we have another day left for them to contact us,” David M. Hodges, employment programs office manager of the Mercer County Job Service said.
“We have heard from job training services. With the job market tightening, it could be good for prospective employees to look at increasing their skill sets,” Hodges said. “We’re trying to get the word out right now and hopefully, more employers will contact us. With the economic situation we are in now, I can understand why employers wouldn’t be out there looking for new applicants. People looking for work might want to be looking at the next available opportunity which may involve getting more training.”
Hodges said that some traditional higher education and job-specific training organizations are in this year’s mix. “Alliance Tractor-Trailer Training contacted us and said they are coming,” Hodges said. “They will be recruiting students, but they are also looking for an instructor.”
Hodges said that the two-county job services previously held the job fair in the Mercer Mall. “This is the first time we have held it here,” Hodges said. “We’ll see how it goes.”
The Mercer County Job Service phone number is (304) 487-2248.
– Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com