Recession Gives County Many Applicants For Every Job Opening

SEBRING - When Highlands County had an opening for a clerical assistant at Emergency Medical Services recently, at $9.29 per hour, on the low end of the pay range, 63 people applied.

Seventy-five people applied for one opening in the county road and bridge department for a laborer's job. The pay scale for this job starts at $8.88 per hour and runs up to a maximum of $14.38 per hour.

"We have had, it seems, a big increase in the number of job applicants since I've been here," said Don Kesterson, a county human resources specialist who took his job 18 months ago following a 20-year career in the Air Force.

Like other department heads, Highlands County Engineer Ramon Gavarrete said he's seen a great increase in applicants for job openings since the local and national economies started sliding down hill 20 to 24 months ago.

"We are seeing a lot more applications than we did about two years ago," Gavarrete said. "Two years ago, everybody was working and we had fewer applications."

County jobs are particularly attractive to many people, he added, because "there are good benefits and, compared to some other situations, pretty good job security.

"And that," Gavarrete added, referring to government job security, "counts big time, especially these days, and especially if you have a family to take care of."

Since January, Highlands County employees have made the headlines mainly because five of them were fired in high profile disciplinary cases. Four were terminated for what county officials called "inappropriate" and/or "offensive" e-mails or instant messages, the fifth for an alleged conflict of interest.

The flip side of those headline making cases is the recession-driven hunger for good jobs that has been bringing in record numbers of job applicants. That pattern holds true for job openings at the bottom, middle and top rungs of the county's pay scale.

For example, when the county advertised for a human resources office manager, at a biweekly salary range running from $977.60 to $1,572.25, 70 people applied.

One of the most recent jobs filled by the county was for public works specialist in the road and bridge department. The position's pay range is $10.71 to $17.25 per hour. Seventy people applied.

Gavarrete said the record number of job applicants is a "blessing" but also "a mixed benefit" for county managers.

"We had an opening for a development assistant position and we had a whole lot of applications, more than 40 if I remember correctly," the county engineer explained. "But, unfortunately, not one of the applicants met the minimum requirements."

Rather than advertise again, Gavarrete filled this position by promoting a woman who already worked in the development section of the county engineer's office.

"We decided we'd train her in the new job," Gavarrete said. "She was already in the development section, and if I'm going to train someone, I'm going to train someone who already knows something about the development section."

As far as the record number of job applicants being a "mixed benefit," to managers, Gavarrete explained: "When you get so many applications, you have to boil them all down to weed out the people who don't meet the minimums (requirements).

"Then, if you have qualified people, you have a little bit harder time deciding which one is best.

"But," Gavarrete added, "I'd rather have a whole bunch of applications than none."

Possibly because, in part, in this economy people aren't leaving decent jobs, Highlands County government, which has 400-plus employment positions, has only two job openings today.

Applications are closed out for one opening, director of the county housing department, which has very specialized job requirements.

The other opening is for "library assistant," described on the county's Web site as "a semi-skilled administrative position" with a pay range of $9.29 to $14.94 per hour.

To reach Jim Konkoly, call 863-386-5855 or e-mail jkonkoly@highlandstoday.com