The following article was published by the Marietta Daily Journal and authored by Aaron Baca.One of the biggest job fairs in the state will get a little bigger next month with the addition of several Cobb County companies that have signed on to find new employees for their operations here.
Lockheed Martin and WellStar Health Systems, as well as other companies, announced they would participate in an annual job fair in College Park that Congressman David Scott (D-Jonesboro) will host.
Scott, whose 13th Congressional District will include southern Cobb County beginning in January, said he expects thousands of job seekers and as many as 150 companies to participate.
The fair, which is Scott's second, is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 12 at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park.
There is no cost to attend the fair.
"Shine your shoes and bring your resumes. Last year was such a success, and we hope we can repeat that this year," Scott said Friday.
Other Cobb organizations scheduled to participate include Cobb County government, the city of Smyrna, Marietta's J. Packer Systems and Robertson Sanitation-United Waste in Austell.
Lockheed, which is one of Cobb's largest employers, is on constant lookout for qualified skilled workers, company spokesman Peter Simmons said.
"The fact that there's another job fair coming up gives us a great opportunity to research and meet with people in the area we might be able to hire on," Simmons said.
More than 6,000 job seekers crushed the gates at last year's job fair, which also was in Atlanta.
Scott's office initially expected a turnout of just 3,000.
"It was a great success. We couldn't be more pleased," Scott said. "The only problem we had last year was we had so many come out that we stopped traffic," Scott said.
Organizers this year are working with Atlanta-area police to help direct traffic on the day of the fair.
Other regional employers that have committed to participating in the job fair include Home Depot, UPS, AFLAC, Georgia Power and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Scott said the fair was reorganized this year to include more Cobb and Douglas county companies.
State lawmakers realigned the state's congressional districts last year under a new district map that goes into effect in January.
Scott, who is running for re-election this year, will pick up parts of Cobb and Douglas if he is re-elected.
Scott said the jobs fair would grow this year because of the congressional district realignment.
"There are 13 counties participating now," he said. "My district is pretty much suburbs of Atlanta. Those are the people we're trying to reach with this job fair."
Additionally, Scott said he hopes this year's fair would attract members of Georgia's 48th Infantry Brigade, which is returning in stages from a yearlong deployment to Iraq.
"A lot of these men and women have jobs they will be returning to, but a lot will not be coming back to jobs," Scott said.
