Standing-room-only crowd flocks to Devens job fair

A packed house: Job seekers and employers filled the Devens
Common Center on Jan. 25.

The Devens Common Center was packed to the gills on January 25 with better than a thousand local job hunters navigating their way through a room dense with displays for dozens of area employers at a very well-publicized regional job fair.

According to State Representative Sheila Harrington (R-Groton), one of the lead planners of the fair, "Fourteen hundred job seekers connected with 60 employers seeking to fill more than a thousand positions. There was a real sense of optimism in the room as job seekers passed out their resumes and spoke to employers. That was really why I wanted to organize the job fair in the first place: I wanted to do something to give people hope."

Among the employers on the scene were HealthAlliance and Lowell General Hospitals and Nashoba Valley Medical Center, as well as Rand Whitney Packaging Corp., Radant Technologies, and a host of local manufacturers. Several staffing agencies were also represented.

Rep. Harrington said, "I had the idea around August 2012 to hold a job fair for my district. The idea initially came from wanting to do something from my position as a State Representative to help alleviate the unemployment problem in my part of the state. My legislative office, headed by Kaitlyn Hyslip, in conjunction with a legal assistant from my law practice, Sean Rourke, went to work planning the event, picking the venue and calling companies."

A bipartisan planning team: L to R, State Sen. Jamie Eldridge,
State Reps. Jim Arciero and Jen Benson, and lead fair planner State
Rep. Sheila Harrington.

The fair's proportions expanded dramatically when the North Central Career Centers of Leominster and the Career Center of Lowell got involved, Rep. Harrington noted. "All of a sudden, we had 60 companies on board and 900 job seekers registered.

"We also had a lot of help from the Nashoba Valley Chamber of Commerce, as well as from State Representatives Jennifer Benson (D-Lunenburg) and James Arciero (D-Westford), and State Senator Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton), who helped us get in touch with companies in their districts."

In addition to the enthusiastic participation from companies looking for new hires, said Rep. Harrington, "we were especially surprised by the amount of manufacturing and technology jobs employers were looking to hire for in the area. Usually, that's a strong indicator of a strengthening economy and job market, so that was very encouraging in terms of looking forward to the improvement in the economy."

"I was heartened to see the immense turnout at the fair, not only by job seekers, but by employers as well," said Rep. Benson. "This is encouraging news to all of us who are actively tracking the economy and the opportunities available in our region."

Nashoba Valley Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Melissa Fetterhoff said, "In talking with several of the participating employers, they were quite pleased with the turnout and the quality of applicants. I am hopeful that the showing from hiring companies is a positive sign. Last November, the Nashoba Valley Chamber and four other chambers partnered with Mount Wachusett Community College on a hiring trends survey to the business community. The outlook for hiring trends in this region for 2013 was rated as 'fair to good' by a majority of employers who participated."

Besides helping to bump up participation in the job fair, North Central Career Centers of Leominster was on hand that day to provide free resume critiques. Job seekers queued up for brief reviews of their resumes' content, appearance and efficacy.  

 

Allen Camara, an Ayer resident who attended the fair hoping to connect with the right employer, had a mixed experience: "I was a little disappointed that there weren't more companies in my current field of study, energy management. I only handed out three resumes. One was to AEcomm, for an outdoor air quality technician position, and one to Microtech Staffing Group, who I stopped to talk with about their IT offerings, but that's looking backwards (to his former career) really. 

"The third was to UMass Lowell, in the hopes that it would have something amongst its advertised '60+ other openings.'"  But, he says, none was a fit for him.

However, he added, "There was a woman at one of the booths, I think it was Marathon Staffing, that looked at my resume, and when she saw that I was working towards a Bachelor's degree in energy management, said, 'That's really good, keep doing that, it's an up and coming field. Get that degree!'  Made my day!"