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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Herrera Beutler’s jobs fair pairs employers, seekers

Sixth annual event draws more than 350 area residents

By , Columbian Business Reporter
Published:

Lee Weddle paged through a packet of employers Monday morning as a chatty chorus of fellow job seekers filled the hall at Vancouver’s Armed Forces Reserve Center. A consultant in the restaurant industry, Weddle was looking to get back to full-time work.

“I’m too young to sit at home and watch Oprah Winfrey all day,” he said.

The 58-year-old was among more than 350 local residents who attended the Getting Southwest Washington Back to Work jobs fair hosted by U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler.

“The idea to host a jobs fair originated almost six years ago when a room full of small business owners told me that they had job openings, but they were having trouble finding people who were the right fit,” the Republican congresswoman from Camas said in a statement. “Six Southwest Washington jobs fairs later, I’m pleased this is still an incredibly productive event where people can not only find work, but also better-paying jobs.”

Handshakes, smiles, suits and heels dotted the reserve center building off of Northeast 147th Avenue on Monday morning. More than a jobs fair featuring 50 employers, the event was a place for people to learn expectations and qualifications for being a part of the modern workforce.

“It’s not like the old days when I’d show up with a résumé and chat with someone,” Weddle said.

The Camas man had attended a job-hunting workshop Herrera Beutler hosted Thursday to fine-tune his résumé and better position himself to find that full-time gig.

“With a résumé you used to have five seconds to get noticed — now you don’t even have that anymore,” Weddle said.

A few chairs down, 20-year-old Jarod McKenzie was looking to jumpstart his career path.

“I’m looking for an engineering internship or a part-time or full-time job for the summer,” said McKenzie, a student at George Fox University in Newberg, Ore.

With dreams of working at NASA someday, McKenzie plans to get a master’s degree in aerospace and wants to get working on his r?sum? and skills.

For employers at the event, who ranged from Clark County government to Fisher Investments to Lowe’s, it was a chance to reach potential employees and get them on the right path, even if that means a hire date may be a few years out.

“It’s been more of a resource for some people for where to go to school and what work source program to use,” said Hope Reffett, who runs the Vancouver assisted living firm A Home with Hope.

The jobs fair started in 2011 when local joblessness was as high as 9 percent. While unemployment has fallen to a 6.3 percent rate, there are still plenty of people out of work or looking for better work.

“I already knew we had a workforce that was prepared and eager to get back to work, given that we had extraordinarily high unemployment at the time,” Herrera Beutler said about starting the jobs fair. “I wondered what would happen if we got all the employers and job seekers in a room together.”

The event has proven helpful at least in one way for Weddle.

“I became aware I’m not the only person in my shoes.”

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Columbian Business Reporter