Ed Halsey: Jobseekers overwhelmed Hilmar Cheese

A close friend arrived at noon at the Turlock War Memorial for the 1 p.m. session with Hilmar Cheese. She stood in line for over five hours without actually getting a chance to submit her application go inside the building. After 5 p.m. her application was collected by the wife of one of the owners with an apology. My friend was told that as many as 3,000 men and women from age 18 to 60 stood in line for the 1 p.m. session to apply for 40 provisional positions paying $14.25 per hour at the Hilmar and Turlock locations. The mood of the crowd was not happy considering some individuals came as far away as Sacramento and the Bay Area.

There was a disclaimer on the Hilmar Cheese website that the application process, interview, written job-skill test (math, reading and logic), hair follicle drug screening, fitness test and physical could take up to four hours. People did not expect the four-plus hours would be spent waiting in long lines outside the building. The 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. sessions did not take place.

Hilmar Cheese might have been surprised by the overwhelming turnout for entry-level positions with gross annual pay of less that $30,000 a year. The Federal poverty guidelines for a family of four in the U.S. is $23,550. The Wall Street Journal recently reported data released from the U.S. Census Bureau that the supplemental poverty level in California is 23.4 percent due to higher cost of living, especially housing costs. Merced County has the highest poverty rate of 30 percent. The reality is that there are people in Northern California who are desperate to find work with a livable wage to support themselves and/or their families.

This story was originally published November 4, 2014 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Ed Halsey: Jobseekers overwhelmed Hilmar Cheese."