Valley workers, their skills, resolve sold short

Don't ever let anyone tell you that people in the Northern San Joaquin Valley don't want to work.

If a job fair last week in Modesto was proof of anything, besides just how bad the economy is, it's how much our friends and neighbors want to get back on the job.

Sure, many of them have to work. They have families to feed, car payments to make and mortgages to pay. But they also don't want to just sit around and collect unemployment.

That is just one of the many misconceptions about people who live in the valley. As business editor I've attended many job fairs over the years, but I was struck by how determined the people at last week's event were to find a job. As one person said, "I'm looking everywhere for anything."

But finding something isn't going to be easy with the jobless rate in the valley at its highest level in more than a decade and forecast to go even higher. That means stiff competition for the few jobs that are out there. You could see that at the job fair, which attracted more than 1,900, according to organizers.

Those job seekers were different from many who've frequented past job fairs. Sure, there were a few wearing blue jeans and flip-flops, but most were professionally dressed, carried multiple copies of their résumés and greeted prospective employers with handshakes, smiles and polite introductions.

Maybe it was a sign of the times: People are taking any opportunity to find a job more seriously because jobs are so hard to find. It could also be that the caliber of job candidates is getting better, a sad byproduct of layoffs by so many businesses, including The Bee. And perhaps all the effort that's been put into improving the work force over the years by stressing education and training finally is paying off.

There's no getting around the shortcomings of the valley's work force. They are well-documented and indisputable. Educational attainment is low, with fewer college graduates here than in other parts of the state; the high school dropout rate remains an embarrassment; and the complex skills high-paying industries demand aren't as prevalent here as elsewhere.

On a more basic level, some valley job candidates are far too often unemployable because they can't pass drug and alcohol screenings.

I know all of that. And while those drawbacks were surely in play for some of those at last week's job fair, I keep coming back to the people I met there, the professional way they conducted themselves and their unwavering desire to find work.

It makes me feel as if people sell valley workers short, far short of what they really bring to the table. There's so much discussion of their shortcomings that it's almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. If people keep bad-mouthing the valley's work force, why in heaven's name would any new industry want to come to this region. I'm not saying that efforts shouldn't continue to deal with work force problems, but the focus needs to shift to what valley workers do well.

I'm convinced the region's work force is made up of people who are hardworking, dedicated, loyal, flexible and smart. Eager to learn new skills, they are bringing more of those with them to the workplace thanks to the efforts of Modesto Junior College, California State University, Stanislaus, and the University of California at Merced. While the graduates of all those programs won't stay in the valley, many do. That home-grown talent will continue to deepen the region's talent pool.

But don't take my word for it when it comes to praising valley workers. You really don't have to look any farther than the new businesses that have come here over the past few years.

New employers routinely praise the quality of workers here. From Sconza Candy to Kaiser Medical Center, organizations are finding the people they need to get jobs done. That's not to say they don't recruit from outside the area to fill some positions, but these employers repeatedly say they're more than satisfied with valley residents they've hired.

Remember, no worker is perfect -- everyone has issues. But all employees have to bring their "A" game these days, and businesses always will need to do a certain amount of training, whether they're based in the valley or in the Bay Area.

Yes, there are a lot of good job candidates here who are far more capable than they sometimes get credit for. Given the state of the economy, their prospects aren't good and aren't likely to improve anytime soon. Most know that, but they want to work, and they plan to keep pushing until they find something, anything. All they want is a chance.

That should be reassuring to businesses even if they don't have any jobs to fill right now. When things finally start to turn around, hopefully valley companies will hire valley residents to help them rebuild.

Even if it's one job at a time, that's a start.

Bee business editor David W. Hill can be reached at dhill@modbee.com or 578-2336.