Job Fair helps those affected by National, Raley’s closures

Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2002 | 11:12 a.m.

Three and a half years ago, Katy Stabile was flying high.

The Las Vegas native was in the first flight attendants' class for a new company, National Airlines.

Tuesday, she came back to Earth, participating in Project: The Next Step, a program organized by Nevada JobConnect at Cashman Center for the approximately 1,500 National employees and 500 Raley's supermarket workers who were laid off from their jobs this month.

"I just wish it had worked," Stabile said of National. "I know we had a good rapport with the public. I think we had a good airline."

But National finally ran out of cash and closed on Nov. 6, leaving hundreds on the unemployment line.

In some respects, Stabile was lucky -- her husband, Pete Fellows, is employed, leaving his aircraft maintenance job at National a few weeks before the doors closed for a similar job with America West Airlines. But because Fellows hasn't been at his new job for three months, the couple and their three children were left without health insurance.

Stabile abandoned a degree program in broadcasting at Community College of Southern Nevada to go to work for National in April 1999, a month before the Las Vegas-based airline had its inaugural flight. She was among the first group of flight attendants in National's history. Even though the company cut employee pay in September, Stabile had arranged her schedule so that she would be able to go back to school in the spring.

"I had to drop my classes to take the job at National," she said. "But I had a great schedule and it was going to work out for me to get back in."

Like the more than 1,600 people who attended Nevada JobConnect's two four-hour sessions Monday and Tuesday, Stabile was taking a good look at the employers that set up a job fair in conjunction with the event. More than 35 companies sent representatives to talk to prospective employees.

Although America West and Southwest Airlines, now the two largest airline employers in Las Vegas, sent representatives to the event, Stabile said she isn't necessarily looking to get back to an airline. Besides, she said, the market today is tougher than ever. United, Delta and American airlines have announced plans to cut jobs.

"The last time I checked, Southwest wasn't hiring flight attendants," Stabile said. "I'll probably check their website."

Lore Lee Taylor, a recruiter for Tempe, Ariz.-based America West, said openings would be coming up early next year in a wide variety of positions with the airline.

"These are all great candidates," Taylor said. "They've all been in the airline industry, so most of them could go straight into training on our systems."

Some of the biggest crowds at the job fair circled around booths held by the Venetian and MGM MIRAGE properties.

Venetian recruiters reminded job fair participants that the company is expanding and that new jobs would be opening up by the second quarter of next year. MGM MIRAGE also has about 100 jobs total among its properties.

"We have openings in food and beverage, hotel, retail ... you name it, we've got it," said Sylke Neal-Finnegan, a recruiter for Bellagio.

Lalita Zoet, a resource center manager for JobConnect, said while Project: The Next Step was designed for laid-off employees from National and Raley's, other jobless Clark County residents showed up to make contact with various employers. Zoet also said several National employees who weren't based in Las Vegas flew into the city to attend the event and are considering moves to Southern Nevada to take advantage of a more promising job market than where they are.

In addition to sponsoring the job fair, Nevada JobConnect offered information on unemployment insurance, job training, career counseling and resources from government, private and union sources.