With an economy in flux, Gainesville still has an unemployment rate of 7.4 percent.
To combat that statistic, a UF club has organized a job fair to help put unemployed adults back into the workforce.
The UF chapter of Students in Free Enterprise will host a free job fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Center for Innovation and Economic Development, located at 530 W University Ave.
Travis Wright, project manager for the club, said the job fair, which will include resume critiques, practice interviews and legal advice, was set up because students felt drawn to helping others succeed in the job market — students who will hit the same market soon enough.
In 2009, the unemployment rate in Gainesville was 6.6 percent. In 2008, it was 4.1 percent. In 2007, it was 2.9 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate in February 2012 was 7.4 percent for the city.
“When people go back into the workforce, they are helping themselves, and they are helping the community as a whole,” said Wright, a 19-year-old finance sophomore. “In college, we have so many resources to pull from. This event is for people who haven’t worked in a few years and don’t really know how to get back into the workplace.”
Mayor Craig Lowe and Joe Johnson, director of business services for Florida Works, will be at the fair to talk about the job market in the city.
Lowe will talk with participants about unemployment in the city, Wright said. Johnson will talk about Florida Works and give interviewing tips.
“Some people are at a crossroads,” Johnson said. “They are at a job and don’t know what to do. We are here to help them.”
He said he is happy to see students reach out to their community, even though some students feel like Gainesville is a temporary home.
“When you get the students here and helping, it exemplifies that UF students are involved in the community,” he said. “The resume opens the door, but the interviews close it on the way out,” Johnson said.
Contact Ben Brasch at bbrasch@alligator.org.
