2 Modesto events focus on connecting people with jobs

There are lots of jobs in Stanislaus County, and lots of people looking for work, Stanislaus Economic Development & Workforce Alliance CEO Dave White told a group of community leaders Thursday morning. The key to reducing the county’s 10.5 percent unemployment, plus its high underemployment, he said, is closing the skills gap and “connecting the dots” to match employers with those job seekers who do have the skills.

Easier said than done, of course. Speaking at the City Ministry Network’s monthly Catalyst gathering, he also noted a gap among many in how to apply for a job, and an apparent aversion to hard work.

White said he recently attended a local company’s job recruitment event. “Not one person brought a résumé. A lot of people had their pants dragging halfway down their rear end.”

Too many would-be workers here don’t have the language skills or job skills, lack a GED and can’t pass a drug test, he said.

White also said he spoke this week with management of a company looking to fill “lots of jobs that require only brute strength” and pay $16 an hour or more. But it can’t fill the jobs because no one wants to do that kind of work, he said, without going into detail on the company or the jobs.

Early job experience is worthwhile for any student, White said. “We have kids graduating from college who’ve never worked. The majority getting out of high school have never had a job. This is a problem.”

“Paths to prosperity,” he said, don’t always mean going to college. Sometime in the 1970s, the idea caught hold that everyone needs to go to college, he told the group. But that’s just not so, White said.

As an example, he and other speakers at the Catalyst meeting noted a Codex Summer Camp to be held at Hanshaw Middle School in south Modesto this summer. It will introduce students to computer code writing, a growing field that pays well and doesn’t require a bachelor’s degree. And at a job fair Monday afternoon in Modesto, Rep. Jeff Denham noted a program at Ceres High School that has partnered with E.&J. Gallo Winery and other local employers to prepare students for high-tech jobs right out of high school.

White spoke of an Alliance survey of close to 200 businesses, which revealed that about three-quarters of them plan to expand. “That’s higher than the national average,” he said.

The Stanislaus economy also is diversifying, White added, noting the growing number of distribution centers on the West Side, including Amazon and Restoration Hardware, and new manufacturers in Modesto, such as Botanics & Organics.

Speaking of the Central Valley Job Fair & Veterans Summit held later Thursday at the SOS Club, White pointed out that there was space for only about 50 employer booths, so several companies that were interested had to be turned away.

So we have the jobs to fill, he said, “we’re just not connecting the dots. ... If we can’t fix the skills gap, we’re going to lose opportunities, businesses will move elsewhere.”

At the Job Fair & Veterans Summit, one employment seeker shared his own difficulty in “connecting the dots.”

Peter Butler of Turlock, who left the Army in November as a staff sergeant after seven years of service, has been on the job search since.

Among his efforts, “I applied for four jobs at Stanislaus State, but got four responses that they had people more qualified,” he said. “It’s tough for me because I was in the infantry and because relating combat work to administrative work is difficult. It’s hard to present that in a résumé and get time to talk with someone. ...

“I ran over 100 combat missions, but I also wrote hundreds of reports.” Among those reports, he’s documented soldiers’ successes so they can receive commendations and awards. Ironically, it’s been hard for him to document his own successes in a way that shows employers how they’re relevant to the work he seeks.

Butler said he came to the fair “open to a lot” of job possibilities. “I’d like to do something in the way of administrative work,” he said, speaking just after talking with staff at the Stanislaus County Probation Department booth. Part of what would appeal to him about working for probation is that “it’s a job related to service.”

The job fair attendance surpassed 700 people – more than 100 of them veterans. All employers – there were 51 listed on a handout – had to have at least one full-time job available, Denham said.

A sampling of the employers and jobs: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, mechanical engineering analyst; Del Monte Foods, cannery electrician and cannery mechanic; Turlock Irrigation District, electrical engineer and electrical lineworker; Storer Coachways, bus aide for special-needs children; United Cerebral Palsy, job coach.

Young’s Commercial Transfer was there looking to hire temporary full-time drivers, dispatchers and entry-level managers for tomato season. “We haul for ConAgra plus three other tomato operations throughout the state,” said Randy Daniel, human resources manager for the company. From the many temporary seasonal workers the company has, it’s always looking for the cream of the crop to advance a few to full-time positions, he said.

This was Young’s first time at the 3-year-old job fair, Daniel said, and it impressed him. “The number of qualified applicants has been much bigger than I expected,” he said. “I’ll have no problem, at least on paper, filling the positions I need to.”

His department will have to take a hard follow-up look at the applications and follow up with interviews, he said, but at first blush, “it’s a good pool of applicants. I’m very pleased.”

This story was originally published May 7, 2015 at 7:35 PM with the headline "2 Modesto events focus on connecting people with jobs."