Manufacturing focus of event

‘OH-ZONE: Lake County Virtual Career Fair’ set for June 22-26

Staff at OhioMeansJobs Lake County, along with Alliance for Working Together Foundation, HOLA Ohio of Lake County and other partnering organizations, will be hosting the inaugural

“OH-ZONE: Lake County Virtual Career Fair” June 22-26.

The event is free for participating employers and job seekers alike, and will focus primarily on opportunities in the manufacturing industry.

“We all hope that you and the employees of your business are safe and healthy during these unprecedented times,” said Bob Dawson, incoming chair of the Lake County Workforce Development Board.

“We, along with the Lake County commissioners, recognize that the ongoing pandemic has affected many aspects of our once thriving economy, but if we work

together, we can weather this storm. It’s time to take the first step in putting the citizens of Northeast Ohio safely back to work.”

Veronica Dahlberg, executive director of HOLA Ohio, agrees.

“We’re looking forward to matching our Lake County employers with workers who’ve been hard hit by job losses resulting from the pandemic,” she said. “This virtual job fair provides a welcome opportunity to get people back to work and part of the economic recovery.”

To date, registered employers attending include Astro Manufacturing; Burton Industries; Component Repair Technologies; De Nora Tech; Enpress; Fredon Corp.; Grand Rock Co.; Hose Master; Jakprints/Stakes Manufacturing; Lincoln Electric; MarBal, Inc.; MJM Industries; Morton Salt; Ranpak Corp.; Roll Kraft; Sawyer Technical Materials; Spence Technologies; Steris Corp.; Swagelok; and Universal Metal Products, Inc.

“Virtual job fairs are an innovative and stress-free way to help match skilled talent with a company’s needs,” said Juliana Petti, executive director of AWT Foundation. “We believe the event will offer employers an excellent opportunity to address their active and future staffing requirements in a safe, simple and more efficient way than the traditional, in-person job fair.”

County organizations have partnered with Oplign, a veteran-owned, employee-matching information technology and services company operating as the domain host. Employers wishing to move forward with a certain candidate will go offline to proceed with interviews and hiring practices.

Patrick Mohorcic, director of workforce development for the commissioners, noted the event is being kept minimal for the moment.

“As a soft introduction, we don’t want the system breaking, so it’s only for manufacturing right now,” he said. “Employers want to see a small sample size of what they are hiring for — right now, we’re looking

at 50-100 open positions, depending how many companies want to advertise.

“And we want to support the efforts of our manufacturing sector, as they’ve served as the backbone of the Lake County economy for so many years.”

Mohorcic added 21 job seekers are currently signed up. Commissioner John Hamercheck described the foundation, development and organization of OHZONE as “skipping steps in a good way,” adding the workforce board continues “setting the bar” very high.

“This is something I’ve been trying to get going for quite some time,” he said. “And you’ve hit all the key points we’ve wanted to see addressed, this is very exciting, and that’s what’s so comforting, even under these difficult times.”

Job seekers can register at OH-ZONE: Lake County Virtual Career Fair Registration or call 440-3504000, option 3.

Employers are encouraged to contact Patrick Mohorcic at patrick.mohorcic@lakecountyohio.gov or at 440-350-4210.

CHAD FELTON — THE NEWS-HERALD Patrick Mohorcic, director of workforce development for the Lake County commissioners, addresses the board during its regular meeting on June 4.