Job seekers flock to Raley Field

By Luke Gianni
CNS Staff Writer

Thousands of job seekers braved several hours of long lines and paperwork Saturday at Raley Field in West Sacramento in hopes of finding temporary work for the upcoming minor league baseball season.

A line of hundreds could be seen snaking out from the entrance of the park into the main lot as the team’s mascot walked through the crowd, giving high-fives to those patiently waiting in what would be a very long wait.

“How do I get that job?” one man in line asked.

The job fair, which was held over the last two Saturdays, is an annual event leading up to the River Cat’s season. However, park officials said this year fielded many more applicants than usual – and perhaps a wider variety of candidates as well.

Recently laid off engineers, EMTs, business consultants and other causalities of the economic recession marched incrementally forward to their chance of becoming hot dog vendors, parking lot ushers and janitors.

“It’s been hard,” said Mark Langford, 34, an out-of-work computer network engineer. “Mostly on my wife because not having any cash flow doesn’t help us out.”

Langford earned a certificate in network engineering a couple years ago but couldn’t find steady work and was recently let go from a seasonal job at Macys.

Before the downturn, Langford said he and his wife would reserve for themselves one special night of the week for a date.

“Now it’s like once a month,” Langford said. “I am still looking and that’s the best I can do. My wife sees that and she knows it.”

Langford’s story was echoed among many slogging their way toward a chance at a brief interview in front of Raley Field staff members posted at fold out tables inside the park’s concourse.

One of those in the long line was Tiffany Lighter, 30, who was laid off from her job as a medical clerk at Sutter Hospital in San Francisco in November. The setback forced her to temporarily drop out of school.

“I was half way through a master’s degree,” Lighter said. “But right now, I need to pay my bills.”

She lives at home with her mother in Sacramento and said she is on a daily mission to find work no matter wherever or whatever it may be.

“It’s been hard,” Lighter said, but adding she knows that other people in Sacramento have it much worse. “I have a home and I still have lights and food in my fridge.”

The state’s unemployment rate climbed to 9.3 percent in December, according to a California Employment and Development Department report, two percentage points higher than the national average. Yolo County has been no exception.

Some in line said they thought the days of vying for low-wage work were permanently behind them after they graduated college.

However, the state’s bleak economic conditions led them to reconsider, despite their developed resumes.

“I’ll take anything,” said Mark Garbe, 36, who was recently laid off from Home Depot.

Garbe said he left his job at the hardware franchise because of what he saw as a lack of opportunity for promotion. He thought with his more than two years of cashier experience he would find another job quickly.

“Stupidly, I didn’t know this was coming,” Garbe said. “When even Taco Bell tells you they’re not accepting applications, you know things are bad.”

On the bright side, Gabe Ross, Raley Field spokesman, said the thousands who turned out for the fair will ensure a good field of candidates for the 350 jobs available.

“It was large turnout,” Ross said. “We can only imagine the current economic climate is contributing to the amount of people looking for a job.”

Ross wouldn’t comment on how much the positions paid, but said his organization offers a “wide variety” of temporary jobs.