‘Opportunity Fair’ geared to help the thousands of area unemployed

Rosemarie Davis is working hard to ensure enough employers attend an “Opportunity Fair” for the large crowd of unemployed the event may draw.

The Opportunity Fair will be held 10 a.m to 2 p.m., May 14, at the Fort Smith Convention Center.

“The Opportunity Fair will offer a chance for jobseekers to meet with area employers to discuss job openings and, in some cases, conduct on the spot assessments,” noted a press release from the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services. “DWS/TAA mobile units and personnel will be on hand to assist in writing resumes, will review resumes and give advice on writing more effective resumes, as well as to give tips on developing interviewing skills.”

Davis, who works in the Fort Smith office of Arkansas’ Department of Workforce Services, has joined with the Fort Smith Adult Education Center to pull together the event at which the unemployed may meet with potential employers, attend job search seminars, meet with area university officials and visit with military recruiters.

“We pretty much invite anyone who offers free services to the unemployed,” Davis said.

After a little more than a week of organizing, Davis has only nine employers willing to attend. She has several universities and colleges, the Small Business Administration and military recruiters. And she also is working to recruit more small businesses because of a new federal tax incentive for small businesses to hire those who have been out of work six months or longer.

“The biggest problem we are going to have is finding employers,” Davis said.

The previous Opportunity Fair was held in March 2009. That event featured about 60 booths (employers, schools, military, temp services, etc.) and attendance was estimated between 800 and 1,000, Davis said.

The March 2009 event was held during the early phase of rising unemployment in the Fort Smith metro area. In March 2009, the unemployment rate was 7.3%, with the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics estimating that 10,037 in the area were unemployed. In March 2008, the jobless rate was 4.3%, with 5,952 unemployed.

As of February 2010, the Fort Smith metro jobless rate was 8.8%, with an estimated 11,850 reported as unemployed.

Davis believes the attendance at the upcoming Opportunity Fair will mirror the recent increases in the number of laid-off workers using the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) to go back to school.

More than 1,000 people in the Fort Smith area are going to school through support from the two years of funding support through TAA — a program created by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to provide training programs to those who lost jobs related to outsourcing. The program provides support — usually approximating a monthly unemployment check — to those pursuing academic courses related to “occupations in demand,” according to Davis.

Davis said prior to the layoffs that began to hit in late 2008-early 2009, there were fewer than 400 area residents in the TAA program.

Those seeking more information about the event can reach Davis at (479) 424-3421.