Job Seekers

Your recent article "Help's on the way with career center" (Aug. 12)," highlights a great tool to help residents of Baltimore County to connect to employment opportunities. During these difficult economic times, a greater number of Baltimore area residents have found themselves out of work, through no fault of their own. As local companies have downsized or simply closed their doors, their former employees need to access resources to re-enter the workforce. In particular, the county's Mobile Career Center can help jobseekers access occupational training programs that can give them the skills they need to compete for jobs in areas of our local economy that hold promise for future career options.

An educational testing firm is planning a job fair Friday for positions at its new facility in Baltimore County. Prometric says the event is scheduled for 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at the Hampton Inn Baltimore/White Marsh, located at 8225 Town Center Drive. The company is hiring customer-service employees for its new location in White Marsh. Job seekers should bring copies of their resume and be prepared to meet recruiters and hiring managers, the firm said. The company has corporate headquarters in Canton, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of ETS. People also can search for Prometric jobs at prometric.submit4jobs.com . alisonk@baltsun.com twitter.com/aliknez Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

The Maryland Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation/DLLR is holding a Fort Meade Community Job Fair, Wednesday, Sept. 12, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Club Meade, 6600 Mapes Road, on Fort Meade. All job seekers, veterans and nonveterans, can meet prospective employers. Bring résumés and dress for success. Participants should arrive early, and anticipate lines at the installation's gate and at the job fair. Other sponsors of the job fair include Fort Meade Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation; DLLR/Anne Arundel One Stop Career Centers; Anne Arundel Workforce Development Corp.; Army Community Service; Navy Fleet and Family Support Center; and Army Career and Alumni Program.

SKW Constructors plans to hire up to 100 people to construct concrete tubes and fans at the Sparrows Point Shipyard and Industrial park in Dundalk, according to Baltimore County economic development officials. Subcontractors are expected to hire additional people to work on the project, including carpenters, mechanics, surveyors and truck drivers, the county said. "This project is a huge boost in our efforts to bring new businesses and new jobs back to Sparrows Point," Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said in a statement.

Baltimore is opening four "community job hubs" to help residents looking for employment, the city said Wednesday. The hubs, intended to supplement the city's three one-stop career centers, will offer free courses on such topics as job search techniques and resume development. Residents can also get information on in-depth training, job fairs and other employment-related activities. The hubs, some open and some about to open, are at the Academy of Success Inc., 200 S. Franklintown Road; Govans Ecumenical Development Corp., 5502 York Road; My Brother's Keeper, 4207 Frederick Road, and Southern Community Action Center, 606 Cherry Hill Road.

Maryland has 210,000 unemployed residents searching for work. Maryland employers have 70,000 job openings they're trying to fill. The unemployment rate would drop overnight, state officials say, if many of the jobless people had the skills needed to fill those empty positions. Unfortunately, it's not working out nearly that neatly. Economic shifts — some potentially temporary, some permanent — have stranded an increasing number of unemployed workers in job limbo because their skills don't match up with employer demand.

Nothing is so heartening to job-seekers nowadays as word that thousands of openings are headed their way. That's the siren call of BRAC — the military base realignment and closure effort that's relocating jobs to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County, Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County and other installations in Maryland. About 12,000 jobs are moving to the two Baltimore-area bases between August and next summer, along with thousands more off-base contractor jobs. And they are coming as unemployment is still near generational highs.

At a time when employers receive hundreds of applications for a single job opening, a glowing reference could be the difference between standing out and sitting at home. Enter CareerExcuse.com, a website that promises to "act as your past employer" and provide you with a positive reference. "You provide us with your name, employment dates, ending salary and job titles, we do the rest!!" the site pledges. Of course it's never OK to lie, and doing so can backfire. But some workers are desperate in what is the worst job market in more than a generation.

Thousands flocked to the 5th Regiment Armory in Baltimore for a job fair Monday that featured government and private employers but few real job offers. Here are a few participants' views: Emory Proctor, 24, a graduate of Hampton University with a degree in business administration, has a job but is open to a new opportunity: "It's easier to find a job when you have a job. ... Right now, [in] my current position, I do pretty well. As I said, I'm with the financial services division, so, I mean, the people that are trying to invest, I do OK, but it's so rocky and up and down that you never know."

I have applied for many jobs, but no one calls me for an interview. For 10 years, I have worked in call centers for tech support and customer service. My resume has been professionally written, but I am not getting any bites at all. What am I to do? Because many call-center jobs are being outsourced overseas, you have a lot of competition. To get an interview, you have to stand out from the crowd. And to stand out, you need personal contacts and a first-class resume. After 10 years, you must know a lot people in your field.

Karen L. Sitnick's job is jobs — helping people find them. As director of the Mayor's Office of Employment Development in Baltimore, she oversees an effort that isn't simple, even in the best of times, as residents struggle to overcome education gaps and other challenges. The recession and slow recovery have tested job seekers and their helpers alike. Baltimore's unemployment rate is averaging about 10 percent this year, better than the 12 percent in 2010 but still far above prerecession levels.

Baltimore is opening four "community job hubs" to help residents looking for employment, the city said Wednesday. The hubs, intended to supplement the city's three one-stop career centers, will offer free courses on such topics as job search techniques and resume development. Residents can also get information on in-depth training, job fairs and other employment-related activities. The hubs, some open and some about to open, are at the Academy of Success Inc., 200 S. Franklintown Road; Govans Ecumenical Development Corp., 5502 York Road; My Brother's Keeper, 4207 Frederick Road, and Southern Community Action Center, 606 Cherry Hill Road.

Fort Meade's rapid growth in the past few years has made it the state's largest employer, but getting a foot in the door — or, rather, inside the guarded fence line — can be daunting. Many of the Army installation's 56,000 jobs require a security clearance. And though it's one base, Fort Meade contains 95 employers, including the National Security Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency. When local officials held an event last week to demystify Fort Meade hiring, 300 people showed up, armed with notebooks and resumes.

Sunday, Oct. 14 Festival The Department of Recreation and Parks' annual Arts and Music Festival concludes from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Quiet Waters Park, 600 Quiet Waters Park Road in Annapolis. The event features various exhibitors offering goods in leather, pottery, textiles and other media. There will also be food, demonstrations, musical performances and antique appraisals. Admission is $6 per car per day. Free parking. Information: 410-222-1777. Monday, Oct. 15 Political forum The American Association of University Women, the League of Women Voters and the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of Maryland are co-sponsoring a Congressional Candidates Forum from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church, 611 Baltimore-Annapolis Blvd.

U.S. and state labor officials will cut the ribbon Thursday on a new workforce center for job seekers and employers. The Laurel Regional Workforce Center, intended to help people in Anne Arundel, Howard, Prince George's and Montgomery counties, will help workers with job searches and connect them to training. Businesses can get assistance finding employees. The center, at 312 Marshall Ave., will draw from a larger area than county workforce centers in an effort to make more connections in a region that has high levels of cross-commuting.

The Maryland Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation/DLLR is holding a Fort Meade Community Job Fair, Wednesday, Sept. 12, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Club Meade, 6600 Mapes Road, on Fort Meade. All job seekers, veterans and nonveterans, can meet prospective employers. Bring résumés and dress for success. Participants should arrive early, and anticipate lines at the installation's gate and at the job fair. Other sponsors of the job fair include Fort Meade Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation; DLLR/Anne Arundel One Stop Career Centers; Anne Arundel Workforce Development Corp.; Army Community Service; Navy Fleet and Family Support Center; and Army Career and Alumni Program.

Will Matricciani, owner of the Fence Fair on North Poin Boulevard, was preparing to lay off some workers when he noticed that builders were already scheduling spring fencing jobs.Business has been so bad that he'll still have to lay off some store workers for a couple of months this winter. But if builders maintain their schedules, business will rebound by April, Mr. Matricciani believes."I have to be optimistic," he explained. "Otherwise I'd put a bullet in my head."After two years of gloom, Maryland employers and job seekers are noticing a few signs of economic recovery, albeit tiny ones.

Employment experts usually advise job seekers to dance around the question about their salary requirement. Giving a prospective employer a figure upfront could take you out of the running even before you land an interview. But some employers in competitive job markets are making it more difficult, if not impossible, for you to gracefully sidestep the salary question. They demand a figure by saying they won't consider you unless you include one in the cover letter. Now what do you do? "Put a smart number down," says Tim Besse, co-founder of Glassdoor.

A Pikesville steak house needs a kitchen manager, a Timonium restaurant is looking for a line cook and wait staff is being hired for a 70-seat tavern about to open in Potomac. Information like this isn't impossible to come by, but a new web initiative named Chef Link is setting about to be a clearinghouse for job openings. The Chef Link began in Maryland, but there are now job listing from as far away as California. Using profile information created by job seekers -- position, location, salary and cuisine type -- The Chef Link assigns a score, ranging from 1 to 25, to help applicants target job openings best matching their requirements.