For the last two decades the Alaska Dept. of Labor & Workforce Development have held Job Fairs in Kenai to match up employers with employment seekers. Some 600 prospective job hunters turned out for this year’s event held at the old Carr’s Mall in Kenai. Rachel O’Brien is the Gulf Coast/Southwest regional manager for Alaska and said there was a noticeable lighter presence at this year’s Job Fair from oil and gas development related employers, “We were happy to see Tesoro here looking for some positions, but the reality is the oil prices being what they are right now there is not much employment demand in that area,” said O’Brien in an interview. However, other employers were hiring and in true Job Fair tradition some job hunters went home with a new position, “Absolutely they did. There are still a lot of employers here over 45 vendors here that are looking for employees, because they have immediate job needs right now in a variety of career paths. Even the Anchorage Police Department was here because they have such a demand for personnel that they travel around the state looking for recruits,” she said.
Officer Frisley of the APD told the Dispatch, “We’re trying to hire police officers from various spots in Alaska and were here attempting to recruit candidates from the Kenai Peninsula. Our requirements are you have to be 21-years of age by the date of hire with a high school diploma or GED, there is a long testing process because we want people with good work histories and we have been getting people who have been laid off due to the slowdown in the oil and gas industry,” he said. Frisley’s partner 22 year veteran Jenn Martin said law enforcement is fan excellent career for a woman, “Amazing career that I decided was perfect for me when a tall blonde Alaska State Trooper came to our door and in my mind I decided that was what I wanted to be,” said Martin.
Meanwhile, at the Tesoro booth Brent Olsen, human resource manager, “We have a lot of things going on right now as we gear up for turn-a-round, but we also have some technical positions open in engineering in particular in mechanical, chemical and process technology engineering. Last year we hired 18 positions who all had process technology degrees from KPC. We always would much rather hire a local candidate for any position, having to relocate someone from outside obviously costs a lot of money and is a risk because you can’t be sure someone from the lower 48 is going to like it here and leave after a few years to be back closer with family. So we absolutely would always prefer to hire locally someone who is invested in the community,” said Olsen.
The Job Center in Kenai will continue throughout the year to help employers and job seekers come together, “We’re to help and every year we see more and more employers move to the online application and the Job Center stays right on top of that technology by offering the resource room, computers and an employment specialist assistant to help people apply for the positions. Technology has changed from the written application and we are here to assist. Basics of good work ethic, appearance and showing up on time are still fundamental and we also assist with those areas as well as interviewing skills and resume writing that gets you in the door for the interview,” said Olsen. The Job Center is located in the Old Carr’s Mall and you can learn more at www.jobs.alaska.gov.
