‘Community Angel’ Organizes Job Fair

NEW ALBANY, Miss. (WCBI) – Mississippi’s unemployment rate continues to fall, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t looking for work, or better opportunities.

That is what led one Union County woman to contact area businesses for a job fair.

It didn’t take long for Clay Hill to make some solid contacts at the job fair.

“I wasn’t here but five minutes and I already got a bag of cards and everything, so far it’s been great,” Hill said.

The Tippah County resident has a job, but is always keeping his options opened.  He was one of hundreds of people who came to New Albany’s Cook’s Adult Daycare, which hosted the job fair.

A diverse mix of employers from the public and private sector was on hand and they were all looking to fill positions.

“We’re looking for manufacturing candidates , so we have an assembly department, stamping, paint and logistics department and weld, so we are looking for any type of manufacturing candidates that would be interested in building automotive parts,” said Terri Manning, with APMM.

“A good candidate is basically anybody, male , female, we don’t discriminate on age, gender or anything else, we are looking for a good candidate who wants to put in the time and grow with the fire department,” said Deputy Chief Michael Whiteside , of the New Albany Fire Dept.

This job fair was a partnership between Cook’s Adult Daycare and a lady named Jennifer Jones,  she’s known around these parts as the “Community Angel.”

“I’ve been nicknamed the Community Angel because I do a little bit of everything in the community, jobs, scholarships, etcetera,” Jones said.

She also says she wanted to organize a job fair to help those who are willing to work hard for success.

“We’re trying to make sure that if they really want to work that the have the opportunity to do so,” Jones said.

The Community Angel plans to organize more job fairs in the coming months.

The New Albany Fire Department was also helping those get smoke alarms who needed them in their homes or apartments.