Job market booms as oil sees pick-up
By Jack Dura
Farmer Staff Writer
Megan Smith is still getting a feel for if this boom is happening or not.
“It seems they’re actually hiring, they’re wanting applications,” she said. “I’ve had a better feeling in this job fair than I’ve had in the last two years.”
A 20-year CDL-certified truck driver, Smith was one of hundreds of job seekers who turned out for Watford City’s first job fair, held last Wednesday at the Rough Rider Center.
About 300 people had turned out in the first two hours before 5 p.m., a good showing thus far, said Fran Zerr, of Job Service North Dakota in Williston.
“We’re looking good,” she said, with 49 employers on hand, ranging from oilfield labor to truck driving to banking to fast food.
Job seekers strolled the curtained booths in a basement area of the Rough Rider Center as others sat and filled out applications while some interviewed in a lounge area.
The activity was all good for Daniel Stenberg, McKenzie County’s job development authority director, who said the community can now support a worthwhile job fair.
“We thought if we could get 30 employers, that’d be good,” he said. “It seems that it makes sense for us to do jobs fairs now. To provide that service in our community is something that we want to keep doing.”
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