Army Community Service held a Teen Job / Education Fair, April 27 at the Fort Jackson NCO Club to give teenagers an outlook on what it will be like to apply for jobs and enter the workforce.
Prior to the event ACS provided workshops for teens and their parents that focused on resume writing, interview skills and how to navigate a job fair.
Danita W. Johnson, Employment Readiness Program Manager for Fort Jackson's ACS, said that by learning the necessary skills to land a job early, our teens have a better chance of gaining employment.
"The earlier our teens start learning resume writing and interview skills the better they will become at using them," she said.
According to Johnson, the job fair will be the first time some of the teenagers will interact with potential employers.
"Some of the teens have never worked or attended a job fair and this event gives them the exposure and the opportunity to meet with employers who want to hire them; to meet with volunteer organizations that want to hire them and to speak to representatives from schools that they may be interested in attending," she added.
South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles were among the employers in attendance at the job fair providing students information on its temporary and internship programs.
Curtis Price, Human Resources Manager for the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles highlighted the potential for temporary to permanent employment with the S.C. DMV and how the opportunity for summer employment is a good fit for students.
"Our temp program is ideal for graduating seniors and college students because they are considered regular temporary employees, which means they don't have to leave the job at the end of the summer," he said. "However, we understand that school is most important so if the temp employee leaves to return to school, the following summer if they want to come back we will keep their application and they can interview to come back each summer."
Current college student, Jonathan Lovett is majoring in computer science and attended the job fair in hopes of finding summer employment and decided to fill out an application to work at the DMV because of the growth potential.
"I felt like it could be a good fit." Lovett said, after hearing about the possibility of full-time employment after graduation.
Not wanting to miss an opportunity Lovett said, "I'm filling out the application because I definitely want to be the one" to get a full-time job after graduating.
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