Job Fair Scheduled At South Florida Community College

Heartland Workforce and South Florida Community College are sponsoring a job fair next month, and they are looking for employers with vacancies.

The event will be held Thursday, Nov. 6 from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. at the college's Avon Park campus, 600 W. College Drive, in Building B.

"We're committed to helping businesses and job seekers to find the employees that they need," said Cheryl Sharp, business operations director for Heartland Workforce.

Sharp said it is important for businesses to list job vacancies with Heartland Workforce. She added that "all kinds of employees coming through this market" including more professionals.

There will be full-time as well as part-time jobs available in the medical field, hospitality and education.

It is likely that the job fair will draw a crowd due to the high unemployment rate locally.

Sharp said 2,766 clients visited Heartland Workforce in September. That is almost 1,000 more people who sought job assistance than in January of this year when the total was 1,790.

The unemployment rate in Highlands County was 8.2 percent in August, according to the Agency for Workforce Innovation. That is the highest it has been in 10 years.

Unemployment was higher in Highlands in the early 1990s and even reached double digits. The rate was 10.7 percent in 1992 and 10.5 percent in 1993.

Florida's unemployment rate was 6.5 percent in August. It has been 13 years since the rate was that high.

As of Tuesday, 24 employers were interested in participating in the job fair. The goal is to have between 40 and 50, according to SFCC's Paul Fox.

Employers who would like to reserve space should contact Heartland Workforce at 385-3672, e-mail dmcdonough@heartland-workforce.org or South Florida Community College at 784-7319 or pantojar@southflorida.edu

A couple of hundred fliers with information about the job fair have been distributed.

No deadline has been set to respond. Sharp said employers will be accepted until the last minute.

In the past, Heartland Workforce has held a pre-holiday fair geared to retailers in October and SFCC has had a fair in November. Sharp said they decided to put their resources together in hopes of having a good turnout despite a tough economy.