The weather was cool and rainy this past Thursday, January 23, but that did not deter people from attending the EMpower Job Fair at the Louisville Community Safe Room on N. Columbus Ave.
The event was jointly sponsored by the Winston Partnership, The Enterprise of Mississippi (Choctaw & Webster Counties), Kemper County Economic Development Authority, Appalachian Regional Commission, Mississippi Department of Employment Security, WIN Job Center, and the Governor’s Job Fair Network of Mississippi.
With almost 50K jobs available in Mississippi, job fair exhibitors were advertising openings in a wide range of fields including healthcare, welding, diesel mechanic, secretarial, landscapers, mobile crane operator, law enforcement, correctional officers and many more.
Exhibitors were from the four-county area, and as far away as the Gulf Coast. They included Southeastern Timber Products, Winston Plywood & Veneer, Emilia Resources, North Mississippi Medical Center - Eupora, Diamond Grove Center, EMEPA, The Taylor Group, Inc., Southern Company, East Central Community College, and more.
A number of those attending the job fair were high school students from the John C. Stennis Vocational Complex in Kemper County and the Winston-Louisville Career and Technology Center, which gave them an opportunity to see the different career fields and what jobs are available.
Chris Davis, WLCTC Counselor stated, “I think it’s real important. They (the students) can talk with representatives, and they can learn more about what’s going on in the area, especially like with our welding program, healthcare program and agricultural program.
There are plenty of jobs in this area, and they could go straight from us to work.” Glen Haab, Executive Director of the Winston Partnership, said, “It’s very important to the local economy because we have a lot of major industries and employers here who are looking for qualified, skilled workers. And we’ve got to take care of our existing industry first and foremost, because that is the catalyst for future investment and job opportunities.”
Lara Bowman, Executive Director of The Enterprise of Mississippi, stated that Webster, Choctaw, Winston and Kemper Counties had received an ARC EMpower Grant and for the past two years have been working cooperatively on workforce development, and they decided to come together for a regional job fair.
She added, “The turnout has been fantastic, especially with a rainy day.” Craig Hitt, Executive Director of the Kemper County Economic Development Authority, stated that he strongly supports regionalism, as everything that happens around Kemper County is good for Kemper County, and vice-versa. He added that the job fair had been tremendous, especially for the high school students, as it would help them to see what type of vocational training they might need, or a focus on a four-year degree.
