DUBLIN, Ga. — In Dublin, employees at Oconee Fall Line Technical College are gearing up to host a resource fair on Tuesday.
This comes after FlexSteel, which the Laurens-County Development Authority said employs over 100 people, announced last month that they would close their Dublin plant this year.
Director of Student Affairs Sakeeta Brown helped spearhead the resource fair.
"We have several correctional faculties that will be in attendance," Brown said.
She said originally the fair was just going to be for students at the college. But they decided to open it up to the public thanks to a partnership with the Dublin-Laurens County Development Authority after FlexSteel announced they were closing their plant.
"To try to bring employers here for those individuals," Brown said.
So far, she said about 32 companies have signed up to meet future employees. Most of the companies Brown spoke with told her they were ready to hire.
Dublin-Laurens Development Authority President Ryan Waldrep said FlexSteel's departure will be a challenging loss to the area.
"It doesn't matter the size of the community. It doesn't matter the size of the employer. Anytime you have an employer that makes a decision to, to change- that's always a challenging moment," Waldrep said.
At the time FlexSteel announced they were closing their Dublin branch, the Development Authority's website said their plant had roughly 300 employees. Waldrep shared the number is actually closer to about 150.
"I believe our role as the Development Authority is to help, as much as we possibly can, with these individuals," Waldrep said.
He hopes everyone who needs help finding career resources comes out on Tuesday.
"Not just those that were impacted by the closure, but other individuals throughout the community. Because we have so many great job opportunities that are available, so many great opportunities to go back to school, to gain additional education. To take advantage of maybe state resources that they may not be aware of," Waldrep said.
He said while the news with FlexSteel has been difficult, the outlook for jobs in the county is looking good.
"There are lots of different entities or a lot of different sectors that are looking for jobs. And we've got lots of great jobs that are coming around within the next year as well here in Dublin and Laurens County, with Hwashin Georgia Corporation, with Woory, and other companies that are growing in our community already," Waldrep said.
The Laurens-Dublin Development Authority has a listing of current jobs open in the area here.
The job fair is from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Porter Center, on Oconee Fall Line Technical College's campus in Dublin on Tuesday.
Below are the organizations and companies that will be in attendance.
Dodge State Prison
Farmers Home Furniture
CSB of Middle GA
Laurens County Board
YKK
Sellers
GDC McRae
Telfair State Prison
Eastman YDC
WestRock
Dublin City Schools
Carl Vinson VA Medical
Washington State Prison
Laurens County Board of Commissioners
Montgomery State Prison
Medmasa/Pro Job
Us Navy Reserve
Motor Carrier Compliance
Johnson State Prison
Washington State Prison
Parker Aerospace
Ga Department of Corrections-Sammy Spell
Carl Vinson VA Medical-Suicide Prevention
Dodge State Prison
Carl Vinson VA Medical
Telfair State Prison
Sellers Construction Company
MJM Manufacturing-Lewis Carter
WR-ALC Robins AFB
Job Training Unlimited
Perry Ellis International
Howard Sheppard Inc.