To fill its labor gap, the City of Deltona hosted a job fair for those out of work and searching, as well as for those now employed but looking at other opportunities.
The job fair took place at The Center at Deltona Sept. 30, the last day of the city’s 2020-21 fiscal year. Officials sought to start off the new fiscal year with a full or nearly full complement of people with a work ethic and a dedication to customer service.
At a time when the labor market is perhaps the tightest one in decades, Deltona’s municipal government is trying to compete with the private sector by offering a base wage of $15 per hour. Many of the vacancies now have wages well above that base number.
The higher wage scale is not only in place to meet a state constitutional mandate to raise Florida’s minimum wage, but also to stem the losses of trained and experienced employees to other local governments. Deltona’s leaders have long complained that people too often come to work for the city, gain the training and experience on the job, and then exit to higher-paying jobs in surrounding cities and counties.
Whether neighboring localities will continue to lure the best and brightest of Deltona’s municipal workers remains to be seen, but the city’s matching of job hunters with job seekers resulted in mutual satisfaction for some on both sides of the employment balance sheet.
In all, approximately 120 people showed up to sign up for work or to learn more about the opportunities to work for the largest city in Volusia County.
Terming the Sept. 30 job fair “highly successful,” Deltona officials have slated a second personnel-matching event, one that will include private-sector employers. The next job fair is set for 2-7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 25, at The Center at Deltona, 1640 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The city is enlisting employers wishing to participate in the job fair. Employers seeking more information about how to sign up may contact Assistant Parks and Recreation Director Mark Manning at 386-878-8905 or manning@deltonafl.gov.
Photos by Al Everson
