In Humboldt County, the unemployment rate is 5%, which is higher than the national average. Uplift Eureka’s pathway to payday aims to change that.
This job fair helps employers find the right candidates for their open positions.
“The biggest issue is just that it’s such a small area. There’s a lot less opportunity, especially for these businesses that maybe only have a couple positions open at a time. Many times you’re getting overqualified candidates who were just looking for just entry level work, because there’s nothing kind of in a higher field that they’re able to find”, says Sierra Wood of Uplift Eureka.
Pathway to Payday also helps Humboldt job seekers who may be getting frustrated with their search.
“Another thing that I see a lot of times is many, kind of like chain companies will have listings open on Indeed, even though they’re not actually hiring right now. So for a lot of people looking for work in Humboldt, they’ll put out all these applications, but they don’t get a lot back simply because that company’s not actually hiring at the moment. So it’s pretty disheartening for folks,” Wood says.
They fix this by hosting on site resume workshops and interviews, unlike a traditional job fair.
“The other unique thing about our program is on the third day, we have, usually 8 to 10 businesses in the area come down on site to the Betty Chinn Day center where they’ll interview participants”.
If you’re a local business having trouble hiring, there are ways to get involved.
“We’re really looking for any businesses involved in food service, or also construction or other types of manual labor work. I know this time around, I do have a lot of participants that have exactly that type of experience that are looking to continue on with another job in that field”, Wood says.
Resume prep building workshops are on August 14th and 15th, but the job fair starts on the 19th and continues through the 22nd. It will start with applications and end with interviews.
Businesses looking to participate in Pathway to Payday can call 707-672-2253, and those who are interested in employment opportunities can sign up for Pathway to Payday here
https://www.uplifteureka.com/pathway
Story by Tucker Caraway
