By Stephanie Springer - bio | email
DAWSON, GA (WALB) - With a staggering 11 percent unemployment rate, people in Terrell County are desperate for jobs.
That was evident this morning when hundreds of them showed up to apply for ten jobs at the Dawson Tyson Foods plant.
Richard Anderson has been unemployed for six months now and is in the market for a job. So that's why he spent his Monday morning waiting in a line with nearly 200 others at the Georgia Department of Labor office in Dawson. "I got here about 6AM and there was a long line here waiting to get an application and I got to the half way point and they ran out of applications," he said.
"Tyson foods here in Dawson was actually accepting applications, we were doing a positive recruitment we gave out 50 applications and by about 9:15 they were all gone," said Lynn Jones of the Georgia Dept. of Labor.
The Tyson plant in Dawson currently has 350 employees. Managers are looking to hire about 10 more people, and they expected an overwhelming response.
"We've heard reports that these people get up at like four in the morning and come get in the line, they know that we are going to have a few jobs and you know times are tough, people want a job and they need a job and they are willing to work," said Wingate Taylor of Tyson Foods.
Tyson is looking to fill spots for unskilled labors, but officials say the most qualified candidates will get the jobs.
"These are general labor jobs that are not starting off with a whole lot of requirements for example not necessarily a high school diploma, not necessarily any experience. We have to screen every applicant in conjunction with our affirmative action program so that in the end of the day we are going to pick the most qualified application," said Taylor.
In the meantime, Richard Anderson says he'll be back next time and will do whatever it takes to get a job.
Officials at Tyson say they have not had to layoff any workers because the food industry is more recession-proof than other businesses.
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