When a job offer isn't great news

TAMPA - As the unemployment rate slowly improves, new problems emerge for job seekers with offers: painful paycuts.

Many people are finding they have to sacrifice salary just to work.

"That's the biggest thing right there. They were making $40,000, and now the best offer they have is $32,500. That's a big pill to swallow to take a pay cut," said Dale Green, with the Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance.

The alliance and a Tampa company looking to hire held a job fair Thursday. The company is looking to fill 120 full-time positions.

Samuel Sylvestre was there, and he hopes he just walked through the door of opportunity.

"It's not just me going through this process," he said.

Sylvestre was one of hundreds in line to apply for a call center job with PRC in Tampa.

"What we're looking for is to fill positions for are in-bound customer service working for Fortune 500 and Fortune 2000 companies," said Bryan Huffmaster, with PRC.

"This is full time and it's paying in double figures to start -- no seven or eight dollars an hour. It's paying in double wages in hourly wages," said Dale Green of Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance.

Green says that's good news for many job seekers.

"It's not just about the pay right now. It's about getting yourself somewhere. One for the money, two for the benefits," Sylvestre said.

Of course, with opportunity comes competition. Within the first hour of the job fair more than one hundred people applied. There are only 120 positions, so how does someone get noticed?

"You only get one time to make a first impression and that's really key," Green said.

At the job fair, qualifying applicants have the chance to interview face-to-face. Sylvestre used the face time to share his foreign language skills during the interview. He believes that sets him ahead of the pack.

"I'm pretty positive that eventually I will get the position," he said.

PRC hopes to fill all of its open positions by August 15th. Another job fair will be held next month.
A company rep says they're seeing a larger number of well-qualified applicants as a side effect of the poor job market.