MORGANTOWN — Oil and gas industry service company reps and industry job hunters filled the J.W. Ruby Community Center at Mylan Park on Wednesday. It was the second West Virginia Energy Expo.
Damian Ferek, CEO of expo co-host The Stick Co., noted the change in emphasis from last year’s expo, which featured panel discussions and guest speakers.
“One of the biggest things that we’re seeing in the industry right now is that is more of a need for employment as well as sales and development,” he said. So instead of focusing on education and speakers they made it a dual-branded trade show and hiring event.
“We’re seeing a number of people through the room,” he said. Oil and gas is a challenging industry to work for without the right certifications but people were coming in with resumes and seeing who’s hiring.
Also new, in keeping with the job-seeking emphasis, was an on-site drug testing station provided by Advantage Occupational Medicine of Bridgeport. One of the challenges of a hiring event, Ferek said, is that an employer may see 10 candidates but have to wait days to get them drug tested and more days to get results.
This was intended to speed the process, he said. “We’re hoping to provide some value to the exhibitors.”
The expo drew three job hunting student from Pierpont Community & Technical College in Fairmont. Petroleum technology majors Alex Britton, Karlton White and Tessa Dudgeon were just beginning to make the rounds, resumes and notebooks in hand.
They hadn’t had a chance to talk to any employers yet, but they were willing to consider “anything that pays” in their field.
The state Department of Comerce and Economic Development Council were expo co-hosts and had several booths around the expo floor.
Matt Borror, business retention expansion representative for Commerce’s Development Office, said their mission is to offer business assistance through the Governor’s Guaranteed Workforce Program.
So far that morning, he’d talked with three companies looking for new buildings or sites; two were from out of state. “So that’s a big plus, trying to draw new industries, new companies, new employment opportunities to West Virginia.”
Operation Welcome Home, with headquarters at Mylan Park is a nonprofit providing various services to veterans, including employment services. “We’re making some great connections with the employers here,” said CEO Brett Simpson, staffing a booth there along with AmeriCorps Vista member Jenna Hardy.
Along with making connections, he was also there to promote Operation Welcome Home’s own Veterans & Dependents Job Fair, set for Oct. 18 at the Ruby Community Center.
More than 175 companies set up exhibits inside and outside the community center. Attendees and employers came from West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
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