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Jobseekers converge at fair
Friday, Sept. 11, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by DARWIN WEIGEL
Amber Watkins of Prince Frederick fills out a job application Wednesday at the Calvert County Job Fair.
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It was fat days for employers, leaner days for jobseekers at the Calvert County Job Fair, with frustration and optimism both evident among those gathered at the Calvert County Fairgrounds in Barstow on Sept. 9.
Potential workers showed interest in even the humblest jobs. Spyro's Bagels had opened a second location in Lexington Park the day of the fair and was hiring bakers, dishwashers, deli workers and others, said co-owner Bridget Bland.
"It's turning out to have a nice bunch of applicants," she said of the jobs, which did not require prior experience.
At one point, a line to speak to a recruiter for Calvert County Government had more than 10 people waiting. It snaked across the room.
One of those waiting was Jake Rozran of St. Leonard, who said he was looking for something, anything, to launch his professional career.
"I'm unemployed with a college degree, living in Mom's house. It's terrible. Things are tough right now," Rozran said.
He graduated from Drexel University in May but has not found work in Philadelphia or around here.
At the job fair he found many companies but few entry-level business opportunities.
"She's going to have a job before I do," Rozran joked about a toddler being pushed in a stroller.
Patsy Holland of Sunderland likes people and activity. She came to network and brush up on interview skills "and obviously find employment. Maybe I'll get lucky somehow."
With her personality, "It is very tough to be unemployed. You make the best of it. You don't want to give up. That's one thing for sure. You keep changing your way of thinking. Things keep changing."
While she waited, Dianne Griner, personnel analyst for the county, gathered the people together into a cluster to tell them to apply for county jobs online. The only open positions are two aquatics jobs, a network administrator post, deputy sheriffs and 911 call center workers, as well as two part-time clerical jobs, she advised them.
"I got here and there's this line here. It's great to see so much interest," Griner said of the suit or skirt-wearing mob clustered quietly around her table.
The underemployed joined the unemployed in looking for a better way to spend their days.
Mike Green came to "get a job, a better job, something in the office," he said. The Port Republic man holds a degree in business management from University of Maryland University College, but works at a local WaWa. He had not found much to encourage him at the fair, saying many of the booths were simply referring applicants to their Web sites. Still, "it's a start, anyways," he said.
Heather DiVincenzo of Lusby was looking for "anything, really," because her job at McDonald's does not pay her enough, offer enough hours or give her any sense of personal accomplishment, she said. But she expects moving up to be hard "because everybody is looking."
Applicants weren't the only ones struggling.
"We've been able to disqualify a lot of people, if that's something," said Sgt. Derick A. Clark, a U.S. Marine Corps recruiter. Those who had been interested either did not have high school diplomas or had prohibited tattoos.
"Like if I'm saluting the President of the United States and I have F.U. written on there, that's disrespectful," Clark explained. But he wasn't about to give up either.
"You like being a reporter?" he asked his interviewer. "You know you can do this in the Marine Corps?"
