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U.S. News & World Report “Best Colleges”? Maybe not so much, locals say.

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Wilkes-Barre city council to vote on anti-discrimination ordinance

<p>WLKES-BARRE &#8212; Michael Gallagher&#8217;s career has led him to jobs on the East Coast and the West Coast, with much of his career spent in Northeastern Pennsylvania, ultimately retiring from a top-level executive position.</p><p>Now, the Shavertown resident was out Tuesday seeking a part-time job &#8212; preferably in administration &#8212; in order &#8220;to keep busy.&#8221; He was one of hundreds of attendees at the Times Leader 23rd Career Fair on Tuesday at the 109th Field Artillery Armory.</p><p>Gallagher, 69, said he had headed production, sales and administration at Offset Paperback in Dallas &#8212; a facility that employed 800 people &#8212; so lack of experience is not an issue.</p><p>And if his father&#8217;s longevity (he&#8217;s a &#8220;huge Cubs fan&#8221; living in Gallagher&#8217;s hometown area of Chicago) is any indication of Gallagher&#8217;s ability to keep on working, he still has many good working years left in him.</p><p>One of Gallagher&#8217;s first stops at the fair on Tuesday was pick up a job application at the Mohegan Sun kiosk. He would like to work at the Mohegan Sun Arena, preferably in administration, he said.</p><p>Herbert Rohmdfox, 59, of Kingston, is looking for a job where he can get his hands a little dirty.</p><p>The out-of-worker laborer and truck driver said he filed job applications with Golden Technologies and McCarthy Tires because he is seeking a warehouse position. Rohmdfox said he has been laid off since late June and is &#8220;looking for anything in a warehouse.&#8221;</p><p>Rohmdfox, who has previously resided in Allentown, Easton and Wilkes-Barre, said, &#8220;I need a job bad. I&#8217;m looking for full-time and I came to the job fair hopeful that I can land something.&#8221;</p><p>Caitlin Akins-LaRue, event organizer said, said about 1,000 job seekers passed through the armory doors Tuesday, seeking the interest of more than 50 area businesses with kiosks at the event. Akins-LaRue described attendance as steady and about the same as last year.</p><p>Nancy, a 45-year-old Shavertown resident who declined to give her last name in order to protect the privacy of her family, came to the fair looking for help.</p><p>Nancy&#8217;s career choice is being an engineering geologist. Boasting a master&#8217;s degree from the University of Maryland and a bachelor&#8217;s from SUNY of Binghamton, N.Y., she&#8217;s been out of a job since returning to Pennsylvania three years ago to assist in the care of an ailing mother and father.</p><p>Nancy resided in the Oakland, California area for 14 years where she worked for the state environmental agency as an engineering geologist. Naturally, she&#8217;s familiar with earthquakes and underground faults as well as major environmental projects and now she is just looking for a break in this area.</p><p>Nancy but she said her efforts to find employment has been frustrating, adding that she&#8217;s been described as &#8220;over qualified.&#8221; These comments came after filing hundreds of resumes, some in New England and New York. But she would prefer employment in this area, either full-time or part-time.</p><p>She&#8217;s hopeful her stop at the booth of the Pennsylvania Civil Service Commission proves fruitful. She was told her credentials would be considered for openings in her field. But, she added, there were no guarantees.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_tljobfair01.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Job seekers visit with potential employers during the Times Leader Career Fair on Tuesday at the 109th Field Artillery Armory in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_tljobfair01.jpg</photo0><caption0>Job seekers visit with potential employers during the Times Leader Career Fair on Tuesday at the 109th Field Artillery Armory in Wilkes-Barre. </caption0><photoCredit0>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_tljobfair02.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Pedro Gratacos, of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Civil Service Commission, talks with people attending the job fair. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_tljobfair02.jpg</photo1><caption1>Pedro Gratacos, of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Civil Service Commission, talks with people attending the job fair. </caption1><photoCredit1>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Huntington</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach the Times Leader newsroom at 570-829-7242 or on Twitter @TLNews.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Job seekers from variety of backgrounds attend Times Leader Career Fair