Westmoreland County to hold job fair Aug. 22
Westmoreland County is planning a job fair to help fill as many as 50 positions at the courthouse, nursing home, jail and other government and human service offices.
The day-long event will be held from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 22 at the Ramada Inn in Hempfield.
It’s the first time the county has sponsored a job fair, Human Resources Director Amanda Bernard said.
“If we can hire 50 people, that would be great. We have a lot of vacancies, especially at the Manor where we are competing with local hospitals,” Bernard said.
The county needs to fill positions across most county departments, but there is a focus on Westmoreland Manor nursing positions, children’s bureau caseworkers and jail guards.
Bernard said a nursing shortage has hit the Manor and vacancies have been difficult to fill.
About 15 nurses need to be hired, she said.
To that end, the county has lifted its residency requirement for new nurse hires at the Manor as well as instituted 12-hour shifts to make jobs there more desirable, Bernard said.
County workers are required to live within Westmoreland County, but over the years officials have waived that mandate for tough-to-fill positions. Bernard said residency requirements will be waived for other jobs but a full list has yet to be released.
Other departments, such as 911, public works, area agency on aging, park police and clerk of courts offices, are expected to have representatives at the event.
A full listing of available jobs can be found on the county’s web page at: www.co.westmoreland.pa.us/Jobs.
Officials will conduct open interviews throughout the day and some job candidates could be immediately offered positions, Bernard said.
The county has about 1,900 workers. The available jobs pay between $15 to $29 an hour. Most are union positions, according to Bernard.
“These are good jobs. Most have benefits, but some are temporary and part-time positions,” Bernard said.
The county has spent $8,000 to promote the job fair through radio advertisements that will be heard over the next two weeks throughout the region.
Pittsburgh radio station 96.1 Kiss FM will broadcast live from the job fair, Bernard said.
Rich Cholodofsky is a TribLive reporter covering Westmoreland County government, politics and courts. He can be reached at rcholodofsky@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.