‘Working together, we are building pathways to success’ is the theme of The Oakland Career Expo project. Through a series of 32 career exposition events, the project was created to give unemployed workers who live in Oakland the necessary support and resources to achieve a competitive edge in what has become a complex local labor market.
The Oakland Workforce Investment Board, through its One-Stop Career Center service providers - the Oakland Private Industry Council (PIC), the English Center, the Unity Council, and the Lao Family Community Development - is producing the events, which will feature keynote speakers and workshops to assist the job seeker to improve his or her prospects for employment. Additionally, local area employers will be on-site to interview and hire Oakland residents.
“We’re having a wide range of events to cover all segments of the community,” said John Tang, Director of Oversight and Programs at Oakland Private Industry Council, Inc.
Tang adds that many types of industries and employers will be represented at the events. “There will be three or four employers at each of the PIC-run events – and PIC has chosen only those employers that have jobs and are willing to hire our participants.”
“We are expecting at least one hundred people at each event,” says Sofia Navarro, Chief of Staff at the Unity Council, which is producing eight of the 32 events.
The theme of the Unity Council’s first conference is seasonal job opportunities, which will be held Nov. 20 in the Fruitvale district. Navarro says the company hiring will be Office Teen. “Everybody is welcome – we’re doing whatever we can to help people to get jobs,” she adds.
Job hunters will need to register online at www.oaklandcareerexpo.org and print a receipt to bring to the event. People can also register for an exposition in person at any of the four Oakland one-stop career centers.
Tang says that the of goal registering before the event is to limit the number of people at the job fairs, which could otherwise be crowded as a result of Oakland’s seventeen percent unemployment rate. “The actual rate is significantly higher than that,” says Tang.
On the positive side, Tang says that locally healthcare-related technical jobs are still in good demand, as are those in digital arts media. He also mentions three major construction projects in Oakland that will create many new jobs: a new Kaiser Permanente hospital; a new high-rise building downtown; and BART will hire 1,500 people during the four years it will take to build the airport connector.
Career Expos will be held every week over a period of eight months - the first event was November 6th. All dates, times and locations are available at www.oaklandcareerexpo.org.
The November 20th event will happen at the San Antonio Senior Center at 3301 E 12th Street in Oakland. Information will be provided in English and Spanish.