News 12 at 6 o'clock; June 17, 2009

BARNWELL, S.C. --- Hundreds of people line up and wrap around a school building in Barnwell today, as the unemployed look for new jobs open at the Savannah River Site.

You know this job fair is a big deal down in Barnwell County when hours before the doors open, the parking lot is packed. Then, moments later, hundreds of people are in line, trying to get a job that means so much to every single one of them.

Two of those people in line are Josh Montgomery and Freddie Dogan.

"Everywhere you go, it's hard to find a job," says Josh.

"Jobs are hard to come by right now," says Freddie.

That's why they stood in the 90-degree heat for a chance at one of the 3,000 jobs open at SRS.

"You can't quit. You gotta get out there, look on the Internet, just keep pushing," adds Josh.

While they are pushing their resumes out to land a job, SRS is pushing the need to speed up the clean up of waste at their site and these jobs will do just that.

"Hopefully, I can get one of them," says Freddie. "We need it. We need more jobs right now."

Especially in this area, where the economy is hitting people hard. Barnwell County has an unemployment rate of more than 16%. That rate is almost 22% in neighboring Allendale County, the highest in South Carolina. Those numbers are based on April 2009 rates.

"It's frustrating because you don't know if you got the right skills for the right jobs," says Josh. "You got to compete with everyone. There's a lot of competition out there."

Their competition is in line with them, inside the job fair and among the more than 8,000 resumes already turned in.

It's high stakes, Freddie is rolling the dice on. "Anything, just as long as the money comes in."

So far, about 500 people have been hired and they expect to hire about 1,000 more people by September. Overall, there are 2,200 jobs expected to be filled with 800 more jobs saved. All of this money and jobs came from President Obama's stimulus package and are temporary jobs through 2011.

Open Jobs at SRS:

Medical Laboratory Technologist
Primary Care Nurse Practitioner
Senior Staff Nurse
Radiological Technologist

Mechanical Process Engineer
Electrical Systems Engineer
Civil Structural Engineer

Radiological Control Inspector
Radiological Counting Facility Chemist
D&D Project Managers
D&D Project Support
D&D Engineer
Work Control Planner

Waste Process Engineer
Waste Shipping Specialist
Database Development/Management Specialist
Electrical Engineer
Mechanical Engineer
Senior CADD/Mechanical Designer
2D, 3D Designer
Architect

Process Software Engineer
Process Systems Database Engineer
Media Destruction Specialist
GIS Analyst
Waste Tracking Process Software Database Engineer
Industrial Hygienist

Regulatory Document Developer
CERCLA Risk Assessor
Groundwater & Vadose Zone Modeler
Geo-Scientist
Chemist
Chemical/Environmental Engineer

Technical Trainer Area Completion
Technical Trainer – Engineering Support
Technical Trainer – General and Regulatory
Lead Technical Trainer
Training Administration Specialist
Buyer
Senior Buyer

Cyber Security Specialist / Analyst
Certified Technical Security Investigator
Principal Security Classification Specialist
Senior Safeguards Specialist
Safeguards and Security Engineer

Fire Protection Administrative Lead
Fire Protection Engineer

Technical Procedure Writer
Technical Support Specialist
Nuclear Accountability Software Technical Writer

Job Contact Information: Professionals

Astrid Contract Technical Services, Inc.:www.actsincorporated.com; siteresumes@actsincorporated.com
Chamberlain Group: Chuck Pietsch c.p.pietsch@worldnett.att.net
E2 Consulting Engineers: Vanessa Vanover vanessa.vanover@e2.com
Edgewater Technical Associates: Leslie Kane resume@edgewatertech.net
Johnson Service Group: Jeannie Veverka jeannie@jsg.com
National Engineering Services Corporation: Larry O'Keefe LOkeefe@natleng.com
Noramtec Consultants: Jenney Bae jenney@noramtec.com
Project Services Group: Leah Boehm leah.boehm@PSGInfo.com
Quality Technical Services, Inc.: Gretchen Goodwin ggoodwin@quality-technical.com
TFE, Inc.: Marla Pearson mpearson@t-f-e.com
Value Added Solutions, Inc.: Dennis Trout dennis.trout@valueaddedsolutionsinc.com
Weirich Consulting Services, Inc.: Bob Weirich, rweir96@aol.com

Job Contact Information: Non-Professional (Clerical, Administrative, Lab Tech, Emergency Response, Operations, etc.)

Career Personnel, Inc.: Barbie Yonce byonce@careerpersonnel.com

Future job fairs are scheduled as well. The next job fair will be held at the University of South Carolina – Salkehatchie West Campus Conference Center on June 24, 2009. The Center is located at 213 Academy Street in Allendale, SC.

There is also a job fair scheduled for July 7th at Aiken Technical College and July 20th in Augusta at a location TBD.