TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - The job market's getting better, for skilled, long term positions and short term summer work. Here's more on who's hiring and the one critical skill you'll need for any new job.
More people are finding and keeping jobs in Southern Arizona. Unemployment in Pima County was 4.4 percent last month, compared to 4.7 percent for the same month last year.
At Pima County's One-Stop job center Gerri Brunson says companies are offering good jobs like machinist work that do not require college but do require strong technical training. In many cases experienced workers are retiring without new workers ready to replace them.
"Your HVAC installer, your plumber, those are needed. They're seeking these individuals and not really finding them in the area anymore because for such a time frame we were not training in those areas.”
Job websites show hiring by places like University of Arizona, fast food restaurants, school districts, and Raytheon.
There's summer hiring by places like the YMCA, Tucson Parks, and Saguaro National Park.
Panerasays it plans to hire 10 thousand people nationwide in a push to do more food delivery.
Here's the skill you'll need for any job at any level: Computers. You need to have access to a computer, with internet because almost all applications happen on-line. And because a computer may decide if a human even sees your resume, look in the job description for key words you want to build into your resume because the computer will look for those words.
James Felgar makes Pima County One Stop a regular stop in his job search. He says his background's selling auto parts, but he learned plenty of skills that could apply to other jobs.
'I'm good with people, very good with managing my drivers and my subordinates. I work with my superiors."
And the ability to recognize how skills from one type of work may apply to another can be a key to a new job.