There was a line forming at the Garland County Library in Hot Springs on Saturday afternoon. All ages of people, some dressed in business suits and some in shorts, stood in the lobby and outside the front door holding file folders, photocopied papers and, in some cases, their children.
At 1 p.m., people began to enter the Gordonelle Williams meeting room at the library for the second annual job fair at the location. Within 10 minutes, more than 100 people had entered the room to talk with human-resources people and to fill out applications for jobs with up to 21 companies.
“As many as 23 businesses and organizations came together for this job fair,” said Cori Williams, library clerk at the Garland County Library on Malvern Avenue. “Unlike some job fairs, ours does not require an entrance fee or early registration. The library simply asks that those wanting to participate should bring copies of their resumes and show up dressed to impress the potential employers.”
Williams said the library’s first job fair, held last year, drew almost 150 people. This year, 260 visited with their potential employers during the two-hour job fair.
“We were expecting a bigger crowd this year,” she said. “A lot of people had been calling about it and sharing our information about the fair on Facebook.”
The companies represented at the job event included retailers such as Bed, Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Kirkland’s and Belk; and direct-home-sales companies such as Avon, Tupperware and Mary Kay. Also at the fair were two educational institutions, Hot Springs Beauty College and National Park Community College, to offer job training and other educational advancements. It is a digital-center world out there these days, and looking for any job seems to require a computer, an email address and access to the World Wide Web.
One of the representatives talking with job seekers at the fair was Catherine Monroe, branch manager of Regions Bank on Albert Pike Road in Hot Springs.
“We are looking for honest, hardworking people as tellers,” she said between talking with people as they came by her table at the library. “That is our beginning job, and we are going to have some turnover and need several around the city soon.”
Monroe said there are plenty of opportunities for advancement for those willing to do what it takes to succeed.
“We have banks in 16 states,” she said. “Someone willing to relocate and go where they are needed can advance faster and build a career. We are eager to meet those people.”
Lakin Caldwell of Fountain Lake was one of the more than 260 people visiting the library to look for work.
“I hope to find something in sales or office work,” she said. “The first place I wanted to talk to was Accent. I worked there before for 2 1/2 years.”
Caldwell talked with with Megan Weber, an Accent official, at the company’s table in the first minutes of the job fair. Weber said Accent in Hot Springs is an inbound, customer-service call center working for cellphone companies.
“We are looking for full-time and part-time employees, and we pay up to $15.50 an hour,” Weber said. “Turnover is high. I hire as many as 20 employees a week.”
The Garland County Sheriff’s Office was also looking for new employees to staff the the county’s new detention center that is scheduled to open around the first of the year.
“We are looking for nine detention officers right now,” said Kevin Roth, administrative director of human resources with the sheriff’s office. “We find some qualified out of every 15 to 20 applicants.”
Roth said the office is looking for high school graduates with no criminal record. He said the job pays almost $27,000 a year, along with what he called “good county benefits” for career employees.
“We were excited to offer this opportunity to the community,” said Brittany Chavez, young-adult librarian for the county library. “There are so many people that come to the library every day struggling to find work. We just hope the fair helps some of those people find a job.”
While in some homes, computers and Internet access are more common than a coffee maker, there are still plenty of homes where going online is not possible. Meanwhile, most employers now want applications to be sent through email or their own application websites, so many job seekers come to their local library to use public computers and receive some help from the library staff.
Williams said the Garland County Library offers resume software to help library membership with their job searches.
“The software, called Cypress Resume, takes our patrons step by step through creating a resume, cover letter and reference letter by simply filling out a form online,” she said. “If they have a computer at home, they can also access Cypress with their library card online at gclibrary.com.”
Computers for job searches and library staff to provide personal assistance are available in many of the libraries in the region.
“We have a lot of people who come in without any computer knowledge and no email account,” said Erin Waller, director of the Saline County Library in Benton and Bryant. “We will help people establish an email address and then help them go line by line over the online application processes.”
Waller said job seekers usually come in knowing what companies interest them. Library staff help the patrons find the companies’ websites and create a resume using Microsoft Word.
“Often they want to check out some sites and then come back and make their applications,” Waller said. “They can use our Book a Librarian service, and they can get personal help for up to an hour to fill out applications or send resumes and cover letters by email.”
In Malvern, the Hot Spring County Library offers its card holders computer time and assistance with online job applications, said Charlotte Smith, library manager.
“We also offer forms to pick up with some of the Web addresses of some of the major employers,” she said. “The sheets also offer some do’s and don’ts about interviews.”
Staff writer Wayne Bryan can be reached at (501) 244-4460 or wbryan@arkansasonline.com.