Off To See The Wizard

We're off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Jobs. Because, because, because, because, because..... Wouldn't it be wonderful if there really was someone behind that curtain. But no such luck!

I hit the job fair circuit this week with high hopes. I followed the tips given on TV about taking plenty of resumes with you and "dress for success." Tuesday there was a job fair in Greensboro. It started at 9:00am and went until 1:00pm. I deliberately wanted to get there around 12:00 so that I could leave from that job fair and then head straight to the one in Kernersville that started at 1:00.

The first job fair wasn't too crowded. Parking was bad and several people were parked along side the street; but I lucked up and found an open parking space right beside the hotel. I was a little disappointed when I went in to visit the employer booths. I didn't count them, but there weren't very many employers there. There was however, 3 insurance companies that wanted you to sell insurance, a marketing company that wanted you to sell air space for radio stations (strictly commission based pay after a training phase), Avon was there to recruit new sales reps and the Military was there to recruit as well. Guilford College was there but they were trying to recruit new students and were not offering jobs or accepting resumes. As a matter of fact, nobody was accepting resumes. Even AON, a great employer, was represented there, but would not take your resume. They said you had to apply online and that your resume would go to one of their offices in New York and then be routed to a local office if your skills matched any openings.


It didn't take me long to finish up at the first job fair so I headed straight to Kernersville getting there just before the job fair started. Boy, what a surprise. The traffic was horrendous. The police were there directing traffic and they even had crowd control inside. There were so many people that there was no way everybody could get into the sanctuary (we were at a church) at one time so we were taking in groups of 5-10 at a time. To say that the unemployed outnumbered the employers would be a profound understatement.

The Chamber of Commerce in Kernersville had set this job fair up and they did a phenomenal job! Before I go any further, I want to thank them for the great job they did in putting this together. They had tables with games and crayons for children to play at. They had copy machines ready in case you needed to make additional copies of your resume and places for you to sit down if you were tired or needed a table so you could fill out an application. The Employment Security Commission was there as well with hand-outs and advice on resumes. The Chamber even had seminars set up so you could learn how to prepare a resume or how to stretch you food dollars.

There were all kinds of people from every walk of life and every job description you can think of. There were people dressed in stocking caps, sagging jeans, and sweat shirts and there were people dressed in business suits. I guess being unemployed is one of the great equalizers though. We all stood in line together looking for the same things and we all got the same answers.

There were sales jobs available that were strictly commission based and you even had to create your own contact list. All branches of the Military were represented trying to recruit new soldiers. With around 2,000 people trying to get through the door, the employers didn't even have time to talk to people. Moses Cone was there and they were actually calling people up in groups of 5 and telling you to go online to complete an application. They accepted resumes but told us point blank that it really wouldn't do us any good to leave them because everything had to be done online.

I sincerely appreciate everything that all these people tried to do, but the Wizard wasn't there.