EVERETT -- On the fourth floor of the Everett Transit Center, more than 200 people packed into an auditorium to find out how to land a job at Boeing.
There are so many people, there's an overflow room with nearly 40 people in another room on the third floor.
These sessions are just the first step to help those looking for work sharpen their resume and interview skills to better compete for jobs at Boeing.
"You know, finding a job in this economy is really tough." said Paul Trause, Commissioner of the Washington Employment Security Department. as he addressed a packed house.
It's a cross section of people who need work. Some are younger, some are older. But they have transferable skills -- office work, computers, reading blue prints, working construction.
"I've built everything under the sun, bridges, churches, hospitals." said Glenn Melum. The unemployed construction worker's been out of a job for more than a year. But these are skills Boeing says it's looking for. Somebody who can build a bridge, can adapt to building a 747.
Boeing plans to hire another four to five thousand workers just this year.
"I would expect we'll see more hiring through this year, and probably well into 2012 at least," said Glenn Cook, Boeing's Director of Global Staffing.
With a huge backlog of unbuilt jets, and new orders coming in regularly in a business with pent up demand Cook adds, "I don't see the headcount dropping."
Not all the jobs are on the factory floor. Barb Mannhalter would like an office job.
"I've been like laid off ten times in the Mortgage Industry. I just want to work," she said. Manhalter says her resume at Boeing is still being actively considered.
But hundreds of other people are running into trouble, said Trause. His agency says 75 percent of the people who apply to Boeing are being screened out because they don't know how to accurately describe their skills. New training programs and outreach hope to change that.
And it's not just Boeing. Trause points out that there are 200 aerospace companies inside Washington State. Aviation Technical Services does heavy maintenance for airliners, including Southwest. Electro Impact builds giant tools that build big jets, and exports those tools around the world. Some are small shops that make small parts. Employment Security says Snohomish County has the largest concentration of Aerospace jobs anywhere in the world.
Today's is not the first of these sessions and it won't be the last. An early session had more than 800 people show up, lining up out the door.
For more help on employment, visit:
www.worksourceonline.com/b/is_aerospace.html
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