Columbia County Board of Commissioners hosted a job fair at the Columbia County Exhibition Center in Grovetown on Tuesday, Aug. 9.
Many departments throughout the county had representatives at the job fair including the Sheriff’s Office, Human Resources, Parks and Recreation, Fleet Services, Code Enforcement, Public Transit, Road Construction, Stormwater Operations, Traffic Engineering, Water Utility and Columbia County School District.
“Columbia County is a great county to live and work in and the school district is one of the top school districts in the whole state of Georgia,” said Columbia County School District Assistant Chief Human Resources Officer Sean Petro.
Petro said the benefits are great working for the Columbia County School District and the education field in general.
MORE: Grovetown officials unveil new app
“You have great health insurance, great retirement, the benefit to work with children to set up the future for success and the schedule,” Petro said. “There is a lot of flexibility as far as summer, Christmas vacation and those kinds of things.”
Wes Horton, Columbia County Park Operations Manager, says the benefits working for the county are better than anywhere he has ever worked.
“The benefits are unmatched anywhere I ever have worked,” Horton said. “Scott and our administration have done a great job of building our benefits package.”
Columbia County government jobs offer a starting pay of a minimum of $15 per hour. According to the Columbia County Board, employees also get 11 paid holidays, education tuition reimbursement, free life insurance, a retirement plan and free use of an employee fitness center.
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office was also represented.
“We’re short right now; that is why we are out here recruiting,” said Columbia County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Daniel Massey. “It is a great county to work in, not only from the sheriff’s office but the county itself, great benefits, great place to work and great place to live. We would love to hire people from the job fair, which would make it a success.”
Tanya Jackson, a 12-year resident of Grovetown, spoke on the importance of job fairs and said she would love to work for the county.
MORE: Aiken County students prepare to return to school
“I would be very happy and glad to work in Columbia County,” Jackson said. “It is very important for the county to host job fairs with us being parents and working and having other responsibilities and duties, it makes it easier.”
While Columbia County is looking to hire more employees throughout their departments, some representatives said it is still very important to make sure you hire the right person.
“It is always good to be fully staffed, but we also want to hire that right person. We don’t want to hire just to hire,” Horton said. “This brings some opportunity for people to get out in front of us instead of looking just behind the computer screen.”
The City of Grovetown will also be hosting a job fair at Liberty Park on Thursday, Aug. 18, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Chris Rickerson is a staff reporter covering Columbia County government and general assignment topics for The Augusta Press. Reach him at chris@theaugustapress.com.
