Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 22, 1990 TAG: 9003221770
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
More than 2,500 people have applied for work at Grove Worldwide and the first 10-week, pre-employment training class of approximately 30 people has begun. However, those people won't officially be hired until the training is complete.
Another 300-plus applicants came in to the VEC when they heard of an Alcatel Cable Systems advertisement for 15 entry-level machine operator jobs.
Skidmore, job service manager for VEC, said there is a lot of mobility in the work force. People say they are underemployed in pay or skill, she said, and this creates competition in the work force.
From 25,000 to 30,000 job seekers apply at the VEC office on Franklin Road each year. Skidmore said many want to upgrade from part-time to full-time jobs.
"I don't know where they come from but they keep on coming," she said on Wednesday.
A significant number of the 1,000 AT&T employees whose Fairlawn plant is closing have driven to Roanoke to apply for other work.
Commuters from out of town are not a large percentage, she said, but some job applicants have come from as far away as Beckley, W.Va., and others are mainly from a 60-mile radius from Covington, Bedford, Franklin and Montgomery counties.
Part-time workers are almost impossible to find, Skidmore said, particularly if these jobs do not offer fringe benefits. Many employers of part-time workers do not have benefits.
The VEC is still taking Grove Worldwide applications, she said, and another pre-employment training class will be starting each month. Grove is particularly interested in applicants with a vocational or technical background, Skidmore said.
The Pennsylvania company expects to hire close to 1,000 people at its aerial-platform plant in Salem in the next three years.
by CNB