Hunting for Work : Young and Older Job-Seekers Comb College Fair

With her neatly pressed red jacket, gleaming white shoes and polished leather briefcase, Carol Speegle looked more like a corporate attorney than a welfare mother.

But Speegle, like more than 26,000 Ventura County residents, is searching for work. So dressed for success and dreaming of a paycheck, she took her quest Wednesday to the annual job fair at Ventura College.

“I definitely want off welfare,” the Oxnard resident said as she moved among the brochure-laden tables set up by employers on the college patio. “I’m doing this for myself and my son.”

Speegle, 39, a former secretary, was among dozens of older job-seekers milling among the hordes of younger college students.

Richard Pealer, 36, a financial consultant from Simi Valley, said he recently lost his job of 12 years when the brokerage house that he worked for consolidated its operations elsewhere.

“I’m optimistic,” Pealer said after dropping off a resume and application at the Wells Fargo table. “I’ve never been out of work before.”

Manuel Tamayo, 46, of Oxnard was laid off a few months ago after 15 years at a foundry in Port Hueneme. “I looked for a job for two weeks,” he said. “All over the county, they’re not hiring.”

So he entered a six-month government-sponsored program to learn to be a machinist. Although he has four months to go, he said he decided to visit the job fair “to see what’s out there, where I should go when I finish.”

What’s out there, judging by the employers represented Wednesday, are jobs in government, law enforcement, the military, temporary agencies and retail outlets such as Levitz Furniture, Foot Locker and Stop N Go. Few industrial employers sent recruiters, and those that did had little to recruit for.

“I’ve got one summer intern position,” said Don Misch, who was representing Hughes Aircraft Co.’s operations at Point Mugu.

Rheda Gomberg, who runs the college’s career center and job placement office, said she was pleased, considering the economic climate, that about 70 employers showed up. That was down, however, from about 100 last year and 109 the year before.

“I’m afraid there are fewer of the big corporations this year, and they’re offering fewer jobs,” Gomberg said.

Among the former participants that were no-shows this year were Patagonia, the Ventura-based clothing company; Autologic, the Thousand Oaks computer firm, and the Broadway, Robinson’s and Bullock’s department store chains.

“We’ve lost a lot this year, but it’s turning around,” said Gomberg, who keeps track of openings reported to the job placement center. “I see a small bit of sunlight every day.”

Gomberg sensed a greater participation by students at this year’s fair, which has always been popular among older workers.

“It used to be we’d have a job fair and they were on their way to the beach,” she said of the college’s 12,000 students. “It must mean they have to work this summer.”

But if students were more numerous, the older job-seekers seemed far more aggressive and prepared to talk their way onto a payroll. While many students, clad in shorts, halter tops and T-shirts, kept a wary distance as they strolled past the recruiters, the older visitors were picking up brochures and filling out applications.

At the Apple One temporary services table, Frank Ruiz was helping some of the older students he instructs at the Center for Employment Training in Oxnard. The 15 were filling out applications for full- or part-time work in electronics assembly, Ruiz said.

One of Ruiz’s students, Mona Gill of Oxnard, worked for 25 years at a surgical equipment manufacturer in Carpinteria until she suffered a back injury. Now Gill, 59, is learning lighter assembly work.

“I’ll get a job,” she said. “I always have.”

Juan Martin of Ventura said he came to the fair looking for machine shop work to take advantage of recent training. He has been doing gardening jobs, and his wife is working at a lemon packinghouse to support their eight children.

Staci Stewart, a 20-year-old student from Oxnard, said she left an application at the May Co. table. “They said they’d have someone call,” she said. “If nothing happens, nothing happens.”

Paul Jelinek, a recruiter for the Foot Locker shoe and clothing store chain, dismissed any notion that the recession has killed the job market.

“That’s not true,” he said. “You just gotta look.”