HONESDALE — The U.S. Labor Department announced that unemployment declined in April to 4.4 percent, the lowest it’s been in a decade.
That’s good news for high school students who were at a job fair just for them Friday in Wayne County.
“There are some students that don’t have a definitive plan but that’s one of the reasons why we’re doing this career fair,” said high school counselor Amy Neugebauer.
More than 30 businesses set up stands to connect with students about full and part-time job opportunities for those looking to get into things like construction, the military or just a summer job on the side.
Rachel Windhorn is already set to enroll at Wilkes university this fall but is out at the career fair networking for when she does enter the workforce.
“Especially in a small town like this, there’s not many job opportunities,” the senior explained. “If you’re a little business, people probably haven’t heard of you so everyone just goes for a job at Walmart or McDonalds but there’s tons of businesses around that need help that nobody knows about.”
For a lot of the businesses at this event, it would be difficult trying to get your name out there to potential employees if it weren’t’ for job fairs like this one.
“We’ve actually gained a few employees from these career days,” said Pat Resti, who is a foreman with Kriger Construction. “We come here to try to find candidates to come work for us and focus the kids in the right direction and if they don’t know where they’re going, we try to help them.”
This was the second year for the job fair at Honesdale High School and school leaders plan to bring it back again each and every year for the students.
