State-sponsored job fairs.

Saturday, January 20, 2001

State-sponsored job fairs. Transferring to private physicians’ offices. Recruitment from hospitals across three states.

Employees of River Valley Health System will encounter quite a lot this week as agencies and healthcare groups plan events that offer job assistance.

Official assistance – from the Workforce Development Resource Center (WDRC) in Ironton and state Bureau of Employment Services – begins Tuesday.

Ohio’s Rapid Response Team, which handles mass layoff situations, will come from Columbus to RVHS’s Portsmouth facility. The team will be at RVHS in Ironton on Wednesday, 6 a.m., 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., said Bill Jett of the WDRC.

"We have crews in working with people on resumes," he said.

A job fair, featuring at least 30 prospective employers, will be held Thursday at the hospital, 1-5 p.m. Not all are healthcare employers, either. Manufacturers and telemarketing firms are interested, too, Jett added.

Meanwhile, the WDRC is getting plenty of calls from hospitals interested in recruiting for professional positions.

One in Cincinnati said it would offer a $5,000 sign-on bonus and moving expenses.

"Of course, we don’t want people to move out of the area, but there is a lot of interest," Jett said.

Local hospitals have also rushed to recruit, advertising positions open and holding impromptu job fairs to gather resumes.

Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital held a job fair Friday at its imaging center on Ohio 93.

Genesis Hospital System will recruit at RVHS on Tuesday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., for positions open at its Huntington, W.Va., hospitals – Cabell Huntington and St. Mary’s.

Between the two hospitals, a number of positions could be filled by the qualified people who lost their jobs at River Valley, said Shirley Roth, Cabell’s vice president of patient services.

Interested employees may contact Connie Lowe, director of nursing at River Valley, for more information.

For more information about the WDRC’s job fair, contact officials there at 532-3140.