HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT Hopeful employees line up in front of JobConnect to apply for jobs at the forthcoming Home Depot store. Advertisement

A line formed at the Nevada JobConnect office at 8 a.m. Wednesday, the first day of a two-day job fair in which the Home Depot human relations department began interviewing up to 200 people for the new Pahrump store scheduled to open Aug. 14.

Outside, next to tents set up to expedite the process, Justin Keedy, the new Pahrump Home Depot store manager, said he's shooting to hire 130 employees. He said it doesn't hire temporary employees to set up the store; they will be all permanent, full-time positions.

People who filled out applications online at JobConnect Wednesday will probably be contacted to come in for an interview at the trailer in front of Home Depot after the job fair, Keedy said. It takes about 48 hours for the company to process the online application, he said.

Ballpark figures from company officials indicated there were about 500 applications submitted for positions at the new store.

Kit Hughes was one of them. Hughes said she has been unemployed for eight months since losing her job as a janitor for the Nye County School District. A mother of three, her unemployed benefits expired a month ago.

Asked what type of position she was seeking, Hughes said, "Anything. You know there's nothing in Pahrump right now. It's really been disappointing.

"I'm really praying that I can get something. I've been everywhere and with limited skills, for what I've done for years, I'm hoping they need someone who's a janitor or that they'll train me to be an associate."

Keedy said Home Depot has a good training program.

"We can take someone with really no experience and put them in a computer program, mentoring and set up actual training programs with displays," he said. "We can take someone with very little experience and make them very well versed in whatever department they'll be getting into."

Brian Gibson said he was laid off in February after a construction job at the new Palazzo Resort in Las Vegas opened.

"They laid like 800 people off all at once. I was one of the unlucky ones," Gibson said.

He hopes to get hired doing tile or brick work, based on his experience at the Palazzo.

Cesar Salinas said he has been out of work almost a year. He moved to Pahrump in November from Los Banos, Calif.

"In California I couldn't find a job there, period, because Los Banos has the highest unemployment rate in all of California. So I came up here. I lived here before," Salinas said.

Salinas said he has experience as a cashier and department manager.

"I'm hoping they'll select me as a supervisor for one of the departments. I like the responsibility. I'm a 'take charge' kind of guy," he said.

Keedy said the Home Depot store will open Aug. 14, but store officials can begin moving in July 7. Training for some positions will begin a few weeks before the opening date, while others won't begin work until right around the opening date.

Keedy couldn't reveal what wages Home Depot will offer. But he said, "Since we're part of a region, we mimic off most of Central California and Las Vegas for our wages, and it's based on that. So we don't come into town here and look at what kind of wages people are getting here and try to give something comparable. We do it on a regional basis."

First applicants had to figure out the application process. Keedy admitted it isn't the easiest process, especially for those who aren't computer literate.

Those who are still awaiting an interview have some time yet.

"The positions that we have are staggered so we don't hire everyone right away. We'll start within the next couple weeks hiring the first wave, then there's a second wave and a third wave. So all the jobs don't get filled immediately," Keedy said.

"Everyone that we are hiring either lives here or has some type of roots here or will be moving here. I have four assistant managers and the rest of the positions are mostly open. All the department supervisory positions will be all local people coming in."

Keedy said the tents set up in front of JobConnect were to help funnel applicants through the process, determining if people had already applied for work or not, and if they have, finding their application or determining their interview time.

"We've been pretty organized at funneling people through pretty well," Keedy said. "We have a pretty seasoned crew out here who's done several new store openings."

There was still a little confusion however, as one couple dejectedly left JobConnect after being unable to find their names on a list either inside the office or in the tent outside.

Home Depot employees had a chance to try their set-up skills as well, when the wind began kicking up around lunch time Wednesday. They had to try to keep the poles upright and the canopy from falling over.

Cheryl Camacho, a JobConnect resource specialist, said a lot of people became acquainted with JobConnect for the first time during the job fair.

"We do not find jobs for people, we're mainly a resource center that can be used. People can sign up with us free of charge, they can use our high-speed Internet, they can use the copy machine, the fax machines, fax off their resumes and use the telephone, all free of charge. All they have to do is just sign up," Camacho said.

When it comes to the Home Depot job application, Camacho said if people answer everything correctly they'll get through the process.