NEENAH, WI (WTAQ) – A private job fair is aiming to help the employees who will be left without work as the Clearwater Paper Corporation closes its Neenah plant next month.
The Fox Valley Workforce Development Board is exclusively welcoming the 285 workers impacted by the closure to meet with 36 local employers looking for people with their skills.
“A lot of the positions are somewhat similar in skillset or closely related to what they are currently doing,” said Business Solutions Manager, Bobbi Miller. “For each job seeker, they’ll be deciding what their next steps are going to be, and they’ll make that decision based on the number of things…Some may decide that they want to be re-trained in other types of industries, but the great majority have very marketable skillsets – and a lot of local companies have been looking for people with those comparable skills.”
Some questions arose surrounding whether tenured employees, those who have worked their way into seniority and higher wages, would be eligible for better positions within new companies. While Miller couldn’t speak to any organization specifically, she points out that experience with certain skills will set people apart from other potential hires.
“The current labor market has been so incredibly tight, and these are a lot of the specific skills that companies are struggling with. Having new people enter those positions, they’d have to spend a lot of time training them,” Miller told WTAQ News. “This is a great time for those companies that are attending the job fair to find some talent that otherwise wouldn’t have been in a job search.”
That job fair runs through 3pm on Wednesday.
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development’s Mobile Career Lab will be present as well, allowing job seekers to register on the Job Center of Wisconsin web site or apply for roles via email. Individuals representing local workforce partners will be in attendance to explain the services offered through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which includes resume
assistance, job search planning, skills assessment and retraining for a new role.
All job seekers are encouraged to complete the info form at www.foxvalleyjobcenters.com.
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