AAA Job Fair Brings Out Stiff Competition

While the job market has been tough, one business in the metro is looking to take hundreds of Oklahomans out of the unemployment line by the end of the year.

Sunday, January 10th 2010, 2:01 am

By: News 9


By Jacqueline Sit, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- While the job market has been tough, one business in the metro is looking to take hundreds of Oklahomans out of the unemployment line by the end of the year.

In Oklahoma City, the jobless rate dropped slightly to 6.4 percent in November, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, ranking the Oklahoma City as one of the lowest unemployment cities in the nation.

At the AAA new contact center job fair Saturday, recruiters said in just an hour, nearly 200 people applied for a job.

"We had to open about 30 minutes early because we already saw 50 people trying to come in," said Terri Analla, AAA Oklahoma job recruiter.

Competition for a position was fierce with a heavy pool of applicants.

"We do see a fair amount of people who do have higher education," Analla said.

Bill Shelton was a victim of the recession. The war veteran was a business owner, but the housing market downturn forced him to give up his long time commercial roofing business.

"I'm not a youngster anymore, so I'm trying to do something I can do that is not risky for falling or that kind of thing," Shelton said.

Now he's at the AAA job fair going up against people like Jennifer Hopper, who is a college graduate with a plethora of job experience.

"I had been in the construction management industry, and that industry had really been hit hard with the recession, and so I decided to change fields," Hopper said.

With the new AAA contact center, the company plans to employ a total of 825 employees later this year.

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