Chamber chief: Jobs there for fair, later

Job opportunities are available for people who want to work, according to a Carson City Chamber of Commerce official, and the city’s job fair late this week looms as a good place to look.

The chamber helps Carson City’s Health and Human Services (HHS) and the local Job Opportunities in Nevada (JOIN) office sponsor such job fairs, three of which were held in 2013. This is the first of three more the group is expected to offer this year, and Ronni Hannaman of the chamber said they are helpful for both employers and job seekers.

“I think mostly they’ve all been very, very good,” said the chamber’s executive director, noting the one set for Friday afternoon is luring many businesses to participate.

“There are going to be an awful lot of job opportunities,” she added, speaking of both Friday’s event and subsequent job fairs planned by both the city and individual private-sector firms later.

Lynn Ellis, city HHS workforce program case manager, said there are more than 50 prospective employers and employee resources committed for the Friday fair, which will run from 1-4 p.m. in the Community Center’s gymnasium at East William and Roop streets. Representatives of the employers will show up at noon to set up, with doors opening for job seekers at 1 p.m.

“We have 55 employers and resources RSVP’d for the job fair,” Ellis said. “We are expecting a huge turnout.”

Ellis and Lynda Gotelli, branch manager for JOIN in Carson City, say classes it holds separately for people seeking work have been filled of late, and a solid cadre of people schooled in how to make contact with employees will be among those looking for jobs at the fair come Friday. Both say they have been having about 20 people in the classes, which run four days at week at the nonprofit JOIN and once weekly at HHS.

“The attendees are benefiting from honing their interviewing skills and what to do at a job fair,” said Ellis.

Hannaman, whose Chamber involvement helps in staffing the job fairs and provides private-sector umbrella sponsorship, said people attending this and other job fairs need to understand they represent the first step in a process. She said people may prefer higher-paying jobs, but making contact, getting a job and proving worth can be key rungs on the ladder to finding more lucrative jobs.

“You have to go in, prove yourself and (then) you’re on the way up,” she said.

Hannaman indicated she views 2014 as a good year to get a job not only via the job fair this week, but via subsequent fairs by the city or individual opportunities as Sportsman’s Warehouse, Bealls and Ross Dress for Less come into Carson City.