Job fairs look to hire workers in tight labor market

Reggie Madison, left, performs a mock interview with Arielle Nord at a two-day job fair and career readiness program for high school students and recent graduates hosted by First Things First at New Covenant Fellowship Church in 2016.
Reggie Madison, left, performs a mock interview with Arielle Nord at a two-day job fair and career readiness program for high school students and recent graduates hosted by First Things First at New Covenant Fellowship Church in 2016.

Employers eager to fill job vacancies in a tightening labor market have scheduled a couple of job fairs this month to recruit more applicants.

Quality Staffing, an 18-year-old staffing agency in Dalton, Ga., has scheduled a job fair with the Georgia Department of Labor Dalton Career Center on Tuesday March 13 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Dalton Career Center, 1406 Chattanooga Ave., to fill more than 90 positions.

The available jobs range in pay from $8 to $15 an hour and include clamshell operators, packers, creelers, press helpers, shipping clerks, landscapers, technicians and housekeepers.

Katresha Tillery, corporate recruiting manager for Quality Staffing, said a similar job fair last month helped fill 19 jobs but many more jobs are yet to be filled. Tillery said the job market is as tight today as in any time in her six years with the staffing firm.

"We used to have a shortage of jobs and an abundance of applicants and now we have an abundance of jobs and a shortage of applicants," she said. "We hope the job fair on March 13 will attract more applicants."

Four days earlier on Friday, March 9, Aldi supermarkets will conduct a job fair to help fill jobs for its upcoming Signal Mountain store. The Aldi hiring event is scheduled from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 9 at the Springhill Suites by Marriott at 495 Riverfront Parkway.

Aldi is seeking to fill store associate jobs, which pay $12 an hour plus a pay increase after six months, and store manager jobs, which pay $16.50 an hour.

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