DECATUR — Layla Flagg is deciding what to do now that she has graduated from Maroa-Forsyth High School at midyear.
She visited the Richland Community College Career Fair on Thursday to check out some options.
“I'm interested in health care and I'm interested in cosmetology,” said Flagg, who isn't sure she wants to go to college. She's considering esthetician training. “I'm just trying to decide the easiest way.”
The career fair at Richland was open to the public, and included 50 employers, ranging from Caterpillar Inc. to Memorial Health, Jenner-Case and Tillamook, among others.
“We're offering jobs to students and the community,” said Ashley Hall, Richland's career and completion coach. “We have full-time, part-time and seasonal, like the (Decatur) Park District and the Y, so (ages) 16-plus. We're just hoping that people can start connecting in person again with potential employers.”
Truck Centers Inc. sells and services heavy-duty trucks, and finding people with the skills for their job openings isn't easy, said recruiter Mandi Thomas. They set up a booth at the career fair because Richland has a training program for diesel technicians.
Rich Kraemer, Logan Gorenz, Spencer Franklin and Cauy Wooton are all in that program and spent quite a while talking to Thomas and her co-worker Corey Reynolds.
“We were super interested in (the students),” Thomas said. “I drove two hours to come up here because I actually live in Troy, and diesel technicians are extremely hard to find. Coming to a school that trains diesel technicians is huge because I know they're going to be looking for jobs after they're done (training), so we're trying to find them early before they're committed to somewhere.”
Richland's training, Gorenz said, includes every kind of engine, from large diesel engines to woodchippers, so they have wide-ranging skills.
“You learn a lot,” he said. “You're very versatile.”
He's been offered internships at two shops already, he said, and jobs after graduation, with at least six months left of training. He comes from a trucking family, so he said his path was pretty clear.
Kraemer and Franklin both went through the GED program at Richland, which included a survey of various programs to help them figure out what they wanted to pursue afterward, and Kraemer's family is also full of mechanics and truck drivers. He said he knew he wanted to follow in their footsteps.
Residential Developers Inc. and Developmental Foundations Inc., part of Alan G. Ryle Companies, run group homes for people with developmental disabilities, and the career fair was a good place to look for nurses and people with training to live in group homes with clients and help them navigate daily life, said Lisa Lynch, of the company's human resources department. Each group home has six to eight residents, so it feels like a family, and they're looking for people who will create and sustain that atmosphere, she said.
Jauna Williams is not a student at Richland, but came to the career fair looking for a new opportunity, and had a whole stack of literature she'd picked up at the various booths in her quest.
“They've got opportunities in every field,” she said. “There's opportunities for everyone, so I really am excited.”
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Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982. Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter
Recruiter Mandi Thomas talks to current Richland students Cauy Wooton and Spencer Franklin about working at Truck Centers Inc. during the Richland Community College Career Fair in Decatur on Thursday.