7,000 applicants expected to visit prison job fair
LUZERNE TWP. – As many as 7,000 applicants are expected this week at a job fair being held at Brownsville Area High School for jobs at the new state prison being built in Luzerne Township. Processing that many applications requires the coordinated efforts of a number of area agencies, including multiple offices of the Pennsylvania Career Link offices.
John Evans, from the Uniontown Career Link office, said about 50 people will be manning the job fair. They set up the tables and various signs for the job fair Sunday to assure a smooth flow for the people attending the job fair.
“There are a lot of people out there looking for an opportunity. I just got a call from a girl from Berwyck (in eastern Pennsylvania) wanting to know when to come in. Eight or nine months ago, I got a call from North Carolina from a woman whose husband is a prison guard there, but they are originally from Fayette County,” Evans said.
Calls have also come in from throughout the region, including Somerset, Greene and Washington counties and from Morgantown, W.Va. Evans said all applicants for the prison jobs must be Pennsylvania residents and must bring proof of their address, identification and any discharge papers if they are veterans.
The exact number of jobs that will be filled isn’t known at this time, since some employees will be transferring from the current state prison in Pittsburgh and others may request transfers from other state prisons. Still, there is a wide variety of jobs available, including accountants, clerks, typists, food service, chaplains, locksmiths, laundry managers, switchboard operators, purchasing agents, janitors and stock clerks. There are also Civil Service jobs, including prison guard positions, available.
Evans said written tests may be required even for some of the non-Civil Service jobs. Some testing will take place at the time of application for positions such as clerk/typists and stenographers. Other testing will take place in August for people considered finalists for job openings, Evans said.
Evans said the job fair is generating interest not only for job applicants but for area restaurants as well.
“They’re kind of excited too, because they’ll probably have a lot of orders for lunch. We have about 50 staffers who can’t eat out,” Evans said.
The job fair will run Monday through Friday, with applicants asked to come on days corresponding with the last digit in their social security number. Applicants with numbers ending in zero should attend Monday from noon until 5 p.m.
Tuesday is for applicants with numbers one, two or three, with hours from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. An evening session will also be held from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. for anyone, regardless of social security number.
Wednesday hours are from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. for numbers four, five and six.
Thursday is for numbers seven, eight and nine from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. and for anyone from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m.
Friday is open to all applicants regardless of number from 8 a.m. until noon.