Shaw employees attend job fair

Published 5:42 pm Friday, August 21, 2015

Thursday afternoon, more than 90 Shaw employees met with potential employers at a job fair hosted by the Southwest Georgia Workforce 44.

Eleven employers attended the event at Bainbridge State College to meet with the soon-to-be laid off Shaw employees after the company announced major cuts to its Bainbridge Plant 70.

“It was an overall success,” said Workforce 44 executive director Charles Williams. “The employers were happy to see potential employees with experience and good work ethic, and the potential employees were hopeful meeting with employers that had open positions.”

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Williams said that the job fair was only open to the Shaw employees impacted by the mass layoffs and employers that had open positions to fill.

Williams said that some employers expressed concerns that skill sets didn’t align completely with what they were looking for, but he informed them of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which will help employees gain necessary training.

“That helps ease some of the risk of someone who doesn’t meet the exact skillsets,” Williams said.

In June, Shaw Industries Group, Inc. informed the city of Bainbridge and employees that it would make massive layoffs at it Bainbridge Plant 70 effective Oct. 15, 2015. The company announced there would be more than 250 layoffs.