Career Center sees spike in job orders from employers

Job orders placed with the Missouri Career Center in Springfield have jumped significantly this month, and some large local employers are among the companies in hiring mode, the center's director said today.

Kraft Foods, Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co., T-Mobile, Wyndham Vacation Resorts and SRC Holdings Corp. are among the companies utilizing the center, 1514 S. Glenstone Ave., to find qualified applicants for job openings, Director Bill Dowling said.

Because employers post most positions by title, Dowling wasn't sure how many openings each company was looking to fill, but he did say that Wyndham planned to hire about 150 people in its customer service and human resources departments. About 400 Wyndham employees lost their jobs when the company closed its 1839 E. Independence St. call center in February.

In the past week, the number of open job orders placed with the center has spiked, Dowling said. As of this morning, there were 777 active job orders for the seven-county Ozarks area, although most of the open positions are concentrated in Springfield and Branson.

"That's pretty good, considering what the numbers were before," Dowling said. "The week before, there were 400-and-something. ... There's no doubt there's some fluctuation, but it's showing some good signs."

While both Kraft and Ozarks Coca-Cola have avoided layoffs, neither employer has placed job orders with the Career Center for some time, Dowling said, adding that manufacturing layoffs seems to have slowed in recent months. Even so, heavy manufacturers that cut personnel in late 2008 or early 2009 still aren't ready to rehire displaced workers.

"We're not seeing any callbacks yet in the manufacturing industry," Dowling said.[[In-content Ad]]See SBJ's Aug. 17 issue for more about the hiring push by local employers.