College, university and technical school representatives will offer retraining information Thursday to Ironton Iron employees facing unemployment lines.

Wednesday, February 16, 2000

College, university and technical school representatives will offer retraining information Thursday to Ironton Iron employees facing unemployment lines.

The "career fair" is part of Workforce Development Resource Center and Ironton-Lawrence County Community Action Organization plans to help foundry employees in the wake of the plant’s closure.

"This is for employees to walk through and get an idea of career paths," said Jewel Hackworth, the CAO’s assistant administrator for job training.

Surveys of plant workers earlier this year showed at least 250 people want to be retrained, Mrs. Hackworth said.

"And, so many were unsure about what they wanted to do that we thought this would be a perfect opportunity for them to decide," she said. "The next school quarter starts in March."

The career fair will feature Ohio University, Morehead State University, Collins Career Center, Marshall University, Huntington Junior Business College, Shawnee State University, truck driver training schools and others.

The Center for Industrial Training will make a trip from Atlanta, Ga.

And agencies like Diamond Technologies in Ashland, Ky., which trains workers in fiber optic technology, will attend.

The career fair will be 1-5 p.m. Thursday at the Steelworkers union hall on Third Street, and is open to any Ironton Iron employee, Mrs. Hackworth said.

The union hall is already home to a continuing "transition center" that local employment agencies set up earlier this month.

Intermet laid off 340 employees Feb. 4. Local employment services officials began unemployment orientation two days before that date, Mrs. Hackworth said.

Counselors talked to employees about the Job Training Partnership Act, benefits provided by the Ohio Bureau Employment Services, family guidance and other assistance available following the plant closure, she said.

Five computers are available at the site, each with access to Internet labor market information. The computers feature job search capabilities and a resume-building program.

"We decided to have a career fair because if employees see something that catches their eye, there will be someone there knowledgeable enough to talk to them," Mrs. Hackworth said.

The next step will involve a job fair, she added.

"A couple of businesses in the surrounding area are interested in our employees," Mrs. Hackworth said.

One company is coming to town Feb. 28 to interview future employees, but the agencies want to expand such an opportunity by inviting companies to a job fair at the union hall, she said.

That fair might occur within a few weeks after Thursday’s career fair.