1,300 seek jobs at career fair

Sebrina Walker was among the job-seekers moving from booth to booth Wednesday at the Charleston Area Convention Center. Walker, who supports three children, has a full-time job, but one job is not enough for her these days.

Like many of the 1,300 people looking for work at Goodwill Industries of Lower South Carolina's eighth annual Community Career Fair, Walker is looking for a second job. She can't support herself and three children on the income from her job as a forklift operator for a government contractor.

Nine months ago, she moved her family in with her mother because it was impossible to choose between paying the rent and buying food. That strategy worked for a while, but gas, food and other prices have continued to rise.

"I can't keep robbing Peter to pay Paul," said Walker, who finds apples and oranges expensive these days.

Tina Marshall, Goodwill's vice president of corporate relations, said the high number of job-seekers in situations similar to Walker's was baffling. She expected to find more people at the fair who didn't have a job at all.

"Almost everybody that I talked to had a job or they were just coming off of a job," Marshall said.

She also said she was puzzled that 500 fewer people attended this year's fair than attended last year's, given that the economy is worse now.

About 65 employers participated in the career fair, said Robert Smith, the organization's president and CEO. That's down from 88 last year, he said.

A number of companies Goodwill invited to take part are not hiring.

Among those who attended this year's fair, Roper St. Francis Hospital needed to fill 200 openings; DialAmerica Marketing, 40; Charleston County, 30; and the Medical University of South Carolina, 20, Smith said.

Employers at the fair needed to fill a total of between 700 and 800 positions.

While most job seekers were worried about how long they could keep afloat without additional income, some said they already felt as if they were sinking and did not want to give their names or talk about their situations. Some had families to support but had not worked in months.

"Being without a job takes away so much of your self-worth and dignity," said Goodwill's Smith, who was in a similar situation when he turned to Goodwill more than 25 years ago.

"I hope to see in their eyes that they have hope when they leave here. Our mission is to put people in our community to work."

Goodwill Industries of Lower South Carolina placed more than 780 people in jobs last year, Marshall said.

It is unclear how many of those placements were a result of the career fair, but Goodwill will track those figures closely this year.

Reach Wevonneda Minis at wminis@postandcourier.com or 937-5705.