Job fair brings community closer
Forty-four organizations gathered to recruit former XPER employees and other unemployed community members at a job fair Friday afternoon.
The event was conceptualized by former XPER employee John Lowrey, who helped get the word out to others who were recently laid off by the company. The Butler County Chamber of Commerce, Community Development Corporation of Butler County (CDC, Tri-County Workforce Investment Board, Butler County Community College Workforce Development, Clinton Township and Butler County all contributed to making the job fair a reality.
The job fair showcased many local manufacturing companies, said Caitlin Lokhaiser, marketing and communication specialist for the chamber and CDC.
“We definitely sent a message to all employees from XPER, but this was open to the public,” she said of the fair. “We’ve had every (background) from IT, sales to laborers — it has been a wide variety.”
The UAW Local 3303 union hall at 112 Hollywood Drive was packed with employers handing out merchandise from their companies and having discussions with hopeful applicants. Recruiters from companies such as Butler Technologies, Penn United Technologies and Oberg Industries sought to fill a variety of positions for all experience levels.
Brooke Howard, talent acquisition specialist with Butler Technologies, displayed demonstration products for those approaching her table. The company sought to hire a number of full-time positions, including screen printers, machine operators and engineers.
“We love entry-level people and we love training people, seeing what fits them best,” she said.
Barry Hoppe, who attended the job fair, is a former XPER employee. He said the fair offered great opportunities.
“It’s been a positive experience looking for a job in such an open job market,” he said. “People have been really supportive.”
Many attendees, including Hoppe, brought their resumes and were able to speak directly to companies’ representatives about jobs they were interested in.
“Some jobs I’d already applied to and talked to people from them. I got to meet them today,” he said.
Jill McMeekin, a recruiter for 2D and 3D sign and graphics company IDL, said it’s great that different companies could collaborate for a shared goal.
“The greatest part about this is two-fold: One, I placed some people at Ibis Tek, getting to see those familiar faces is great; two, this fair was put on in two weeks. All the businesses that came together on such short notice to help people, it’s heartwarming,” she said. “Recruiters were able to work together for different companies and still support one another.”
