MOBILE, Alabama – Job seekers interested in exploring shipbuilding and other maritime trades will have a one-stop shop Wednesday for all their employment needs.

The AIDT Maritime Training Center will host a career fair from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 16, offering both skilled and unskilled workers the opportunity to speak with industry representatives from maritime and construction companies in Alabama and along the Gulf Coast.

Laura Davis Chandler, executive director of the Southwest Alabama Workforce Development Council, said a similar event hosted in December in Bayou La Batre attracted 225 job applicants, but the maritime center’s more centralized location is expected to draw an even larger crowd.

Chandler said the council has become more intimately familiar in recent months with the obstacles many people face finding employment, and Wednesday’s career fair is designed to not only help connect qualified workers with hiring companies but to also help under-qualified candidates identify and address circumstances currently making them less employable.

"We don't want to get somebody in here and get their hopes up about a job and then find out they don't have a high school diploma or GED. We've learned you have to take a unique approach," she said.

Potential employers represented during the career fair include Performance Contractors Inc., Signal International, BAE Systems, C&G Boat Works Inc., Horizon Shipbuilding, Austal, VT Halter Marine, G.A. West & Co. and Ingalls Shipbuilding.

In addition to having staff and volunteers directing applicants upon arrival, Chandler said intake surveys will assess any deficiencies in qualifications and job seekers will be assessed in small groups to prepare them for meeting with employers.

“If they were to bring a resume that would be ideal, but we’ll have people who can help with that if they don’t have one,” Chandler said, noting representatives from Bishop State Community College’s GED program will also be available.

“It’s going to be regimented, but we want everyone to walk away feeling taken care of,” she said.

Wednesday’s career fair is actually part of a weeklong “welding extravaganza” that includes a competition to fill a single spot on the 2013 SkillsUSA WorldTeam. The public is also welcome to tour the $12 million, 67,000-square-foot multicraft facility from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday.

Registration is not required to attend the free events, sponsored by AIDT, the American Welding Society and SkillsUSA. The AIDT Maritime Training Center is located at 360 Addsco Road in Mobile.

For more information, contact Sherry Wade at (251) 635-7738 or via email at swade@sawdc.org.