Employers turn out for 'Future Is Here' job fair

MOSES LAKE - It's hard to tell who was more hopeful at "The Future Is Here" Job and Career Fair: The job-seeking high schoolers or the employers.

About 40 Columbia Basin employers gathered in the Moses Lake High School Commons Thursday afternoon for the event, with booths set up to talk to prospective employees before they graduate.

Dustan Knauss, one of the coordinators of the Operations Task Force event, said he could not be more pleased with the result.

"It was well attended," Knauss said. "The employers were happy, they felt fortunate they were part of it. I got that a lot."

Travis Wiser, a 1998 Moses Lake High School graduate and now a Grant County Public Utilities District mechanical engineer, said he hadn't been aware of the job opportunities at the district while getting an education.

"I didn't really know a whole lot about the Grant County PUD and thought they were just responsible for providing electrical power to my house, you know?" Wiser said. "I didn't realize they owned and operated two power plants, produced power as well as transmitting the power. I just didn't have any idea all the different types of jobs there are."

Wiser believes attending the high school prepared him for college and obtaining a mechanical engineering degree.

"But also, I took the metal shop class here a few semesters," he said. "Now, it gives you a lot of real-life experience."

Emily West, a 2002 Moses Lake High School grad, joined Wiser in participating in two panels prior to the job and career fair aimed at talking to students about the job opportunities available in the area.

"I'm hoping to convey there's opportunities for scholarship outside of doing really well in school," West said, noting the scholarship money provided her the opportunity to go to work at Americ. "Also that you have an opportunity to work in a cool setting, learn about something new and you get your foot in the door with the state and working with businesses."

West pointed to her involvement in the high school theater program.

"It got me a lot more comfortable with being in front of people, interviews and being able to talk and communicate with people wasn't as hard for me, because I was so used to being able to do that."

Other employers shared their reasons for having a booth set up at the job and career fair.

"I think this is such a growing and booming area, I think for any employer to target our public, to source our future employees is just a great opportunity," said Agata Willis of Othello-based AVZ-USA, Inc. "This is the place to be."

Willis said her company makes raw fruit materials into the ingredients which go into retail products.

"We take a raw material, turn it into a concentrate or a puree and then we sell it to these types of companies," she explained.

"We are participating because there are a lot of kids in this community," said Amanda Girven of the J.R. Simplot Company.

Girven said she moved into the area about a year ago.

"Just being here a year, you've seen a lot of opportunities in this area," she said. "The businesses and industries around here are growing extremely fast. We're just here to get a reminder to the kids what opportunities there are."

Girven predicted the number of opportunities available would only get bigger.

"We just want to let kids know they don't have to go away to get really good jobs," she said. "We offer those right here in our own community."

"There's all these job opportunities and for the right person, it could be a job career," Marcea Robinson of the Moses Lake-based I-90 Group said. "A lot of people don't realize they could make a good income working in the car business. Whether it's just working in the office, being a salesperson or a general manager, there's a livelihood there."

Mike Bolander of Columbia Colstor believes recruiting locally gives his company an advantage for employer retention.

"People are already attached to the community, and if they become attached to an employer, it becomes more of a package deal," he said. "We believe the Moses Lake school system does a good job of educating students. If we hire kids from this program, they'll have good skills."

REC Silicon representative Thomas Bloomquist said his company is relying on the students in the Columbia Basin and across the state.

"They're going to be the ones going into the work force and we're relying on them to help us succeed," he said. "It's not about getting one or two people here hopefully to get a job. It's more of education what we're looking for, helping them really drive for that and hopefulness they'll come back and help build our companies here, whether it's REC, Simplot, Genie or Basic American Foods. You name it. It's important community-wide."

Knauss said the event will "undoubtedly" happen again, with plans already under way for next year, and Ephrata High School planning an event to occur in October.