May unemployment rose to 10% up from 9.5% in April. The Georgia Department of Labor says the unemployment rate was at 9.3% in May of 2009. Nearly 60,000 people filed for unemployment this year which is down 15,000 from last year.
Some of those looking for a new job handed out their resumes at a job fair Thursday. Around 1700 hundreds applicants attended the 4th annual job expo at Christenberry Field House. There were plenty of job openings to apply for including medical jobs, teaching jobs and factory work. They also had resume critique sessions and seminars on how to scout out the job fair.
Compared to last month, 350 more people in the CSRA don't have a job. Webster Harris is one of them. He attended Thursday's job fair and he says his strategy is customizing his resume for different positions. He says if you're older, talk about your experience.
Harris: "I am keeping my options open. Education is what I love to do. I love to teach the young folks."
The competition was stiff. There were nearly 30 times the number of job seekers as employers. So you had to do your homework before you even got there.
Harris: "I scout out before I get here. I try to find out who's going to be here. When you get to a job fair the ones that you didn't scout out are the ones that call you and tell you there are positions that you wouldn't have thought of."
A consultant at the job fairs make sure you have your suit on, scope out your employers on and be able to sell yourself when you are applying for a job.
Harris: "What I do, i try to find out all them that's going to be there and go online and see if I can fit that organization."
And whether you network with other job seekers or try to impress potential employers, make sure to send a thank you card after the job fair is done.
This is the 4th consecutive month for an increase in new jobs in the state but it's also the 32nd consecutive month that Georgia has exceeded the national unemployment rate which now stands at 9.7%.
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