About 800 people attended the second day of a Hanford cleanup job fair at the Shilo Inn in Richland on Saturday.
The turnout was about half the previous day's, but brought the two-day total to about 2,500 candidates. They met with managers of CH2M Hill and its subcontractors, which expect to fill about 300 jobs in the next six weeks.
"It was a lot smaller than yesterday, but it was still a good turnout," said Dee Millikin, CH2M Hill spokeswoman. "And they were still having some qualified folks coming through."
The fair lasted from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and by 1:15 p.m. the lines subsided substantially compared to Friday, when a queue of applicants snaked into the parking lot and around cars. The lines for the most part stayed inside the building Saturday, Millikin said.
Applicants sought a variety of job types, including health physics technicians, health physicists, engineers, scientists, accountants, office support staff, computer systems analysts, managers, schedulers, insulators and pipefitters.
Employers hoped to fill about half of the available positions during the weekend, and some candidates received conditional offers. People who didn't immediately receive offers still could be in the running.
The employers compiled a database from which to draw over the next two weeks as CH2M Hill gets the notice to proceed, Millikin said. Hiring is contingent on the availability of funding.
The two Hanford Department of Energy offices will receive $1.96 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act over the next three years, with some money expected as soon as this week. The money will be used to accelerate environmental cleanup of the Hanford nuclear reservation and to create or retain about 4,000 jobs.
People who didn't attend the job fair still can look for available positions by going to www.plateauremediation.com.
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