Employ Baldwin job fair Thursday

Published 3:58 pm Wednesday, August 21, 2024

The Milledgeville-Baldwin County Chamber of Commerce is set to host its third annual Employ Baldwin job fair Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. at the local Central Georgia Technical College campus off Highway 22. 

The event is free for the public to attend as the Chamber seeks to pair area businesses that have employment openings with those who are actively looking for a job. 

“Our goal with this job fair is to create meaningful connections between local businesses and job seekers,” Chamber President/CEO Kara Lassiter said in a press release. “By helping our local businesses find the right talent, we’re ensuring that they remain adequately staffed and can continue to thrive in our community.” 

Over 20 businesses and organizations looking to fill more than 250 full- and part-time jobs will be represented Thursday, according to the Chamber. Some of the industries on hand will be healthcare, construction, local government, law enforcement, manufacturing, and more. Job seekers will be able to interact directly with business owners and hiring managers with the potential to secure an on-the-spot interview. 

Attendees are encouraged to dress professionally and bring multiple copies of their resumés to distribute.

The Employ Baldwin job fair was born out of local businesses’ need to find viable workers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that gripped the world in spring 2020. The Chamber sought to help its members and the local business community at-large by starting the job fair a fewyears ago.

The job fair has seen good growth since its creation in 2021. There were some 170 job seekers in attendance last year, which was around 100 more than the previous year. 

According to Georgia Department of Labor data, unemployment in the Middle Georgia Region has been on the rise over the last three months for which statistics were available. April saw an unemployment rate of 3% before the number rose to 3.8% in May and 4.5% in June. The Middle Georgia Region includes Baldwin, Bibb, Crawford, Houston, Jones, Monroe, Pulaski, Peach, Putnam, Twiggs and Wilkinson counties.

Diving deeper into the Baldwin County numbers, specifically, May saw a 4.2% unemployment rate locally, and preliminary stats for June say 5.4%.

Through Employ Baldwin, the local Chamber of Commerce seeks to bring Baldwin County’s unemployment number down and increase the number of filled positions.

For more information about Employ Baldwin 2024, call Leah Frazier at the Chamber office at 478-453-9311 or email atlfrazier@milledgevillega.com.