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GARY — Standing near a Schneider National truck parked inside the Genesis Convention Center, Christopher Watson of Gary said he wants what the company slogan offers.
“I want more than just a job … I want a career. I mean this is a great opportunity, and I believe they are going to give it to me,” Watson said after talking to Kyle Jarmon, enterprise recruiting manager for Schneider. Watson was one of more than 300 people attending a job fair Wednesday, seeking to get one of the 350 positions opened for truck drivers.
Schneider National, formed in 1936, is a national company. Gary is home to a Schneider National operating center at 1701 W. 17th Ave. Mike Ruminski, director of driver recruiting for Schneider, said so far, 150 jobs were obtained in the first two hours of the four-hour fair.
“We are having a great response. This is our biggest recruitment yet,” he said.
The job fair was a collaboration between Schneider National, Gary Employment Resource Center, Work One and the Calumet Township Trustee’s Office.
Grailing Jones, a 1970 alumnus of West Side High School, is the national director of strategic sourcing. Jones said he talked with Gary Mayor Rudy Clay about bringing a job fair to the city and help turn the city around economically.
“There was a time when the steel industry had the big jobs, but now we have to provide alternatives,” Jones said. “People working at Schneider can be trained on the job and earn up to $40,000 the first year. They can even own their own unit after the first year and be independent.”
Jerome Dale of East Chicago, filled out an application.
“This is a great opportunity, especially during these hard times. To be able to come in and walk out with a job … that is a blessing,” he said.

post-trib.com

VANCOUVER - With seven American dramatic series recently renewed for new seasons, B.C.’s television industry has started to rebound from the disastrous Writers Guild of America strike that silenced the industry over the winter.
This week, The CW network renewed big series Smallville for an eighth season and Supernatural for a fourth. They join ABC’s Men in Trees (season two), ABC Family’s Kyle XY (season three), SciFi Channel’s Stargate Atlantis (fifth season) and Eureka (third season) and USA Network’s Psych (third season) in the renewal column.
Decisions are yet to be made on American series The L Word (Showtime), Reaper (the CW) and the sitcom Aliens in America (the CW). Canadian series still up in the air include Intelligence, The Guard, Flash Gordon, Interns and Whistler.
In terms of employment, Smallville and Supernatural are the biggest of the locally shot series. In 2007, the two productions were shot over a 10-month period and employed more than 200 B.C. crew members, actors and drivers.
Each series provided full-time employment for 80 members of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees Local 891.
“We’re happy that there has been a successful resolution to the [Writers Guild] strike, and that many of our shows are returning,” said Kathleen Higgins, IATSE Local 891 business representative. All seven renewed American series are IATSE shoots, and Higgins said “these productions will continue with their previous employment numbers.”
Foreign television series account for more than one-third of the film and television industry’s annual revenues.
One area damaged by the WGA strike was the making of TV pilots for potential future series. The shortened pilot season coupled with dwindling viewers for network series means big networks like CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox are spending less on series pilots.
And fewer pilots will mean fewer series.
Don Cott, CEO and vice-president of the Canadian branch of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, thinks the province will weather the TV pilot storm.

canada.com