Hundreds of Former Cargill Employees Show Up to Plainview Job Fair

"There is a lot of familiar faces out here," Carlos Becerra said.  "A lot of people I know, a lot of people I've worked with."

After 12 years of punching his time card at Cargill, Carlos Becerra is searching for a new job.  

"At the moment I don't know," Becerra said. "Just kind of looking see what other options are out there."

Becerra was a supervisor for the meat processing plant that closed its doors February 1^st.

Cargill offered him a job at their location in Friona, but he didn't take it.

"Right now I don't want to move," Becerra said. "I have a 16 year old and I don't want her to have to get up and move just to accommodate me. So we'll figure it out."

Now Becerra is dusting off his resume, with 65 companies looking to hire at Wednesday's job fair.

"It's real weird," Becerra said. "It's kind of hard to get out and interview. I don't know how to do interviews, not anymore. So I am going to have to learn."

"It's a little weird, crazy, because I was used to going there everyday," Anita Rodriguez said. "Just going to work."

Anita Rodriguez knows the feeling-she worked at Cargill for eight years.

She has never been un-employed.

But she said she is excited about the change, not upset.

"This is my first job fair," Rodriguez said. "So it is exciting."

Like Anita, Robert Pitts is not letting unemployment get him down.

Pitts worked at Cargill for more than 37 years but knows exactly what he wants in his new job.

"I'm being open minded," Pitts said. "I'm really looking toward the pay. That's what I am really interested in the pay. I want to make the good bucks."

South Plains Work Force said over 500 visitors came in the first hour and they expected almost 1,000 job seekers today.

But they said this is just the beginning and that it could take some of these people six months to a year to find new work.  

"I can't let it get me down because you can't pay bills or take care of your family if you're feeling down about it," Pitts said.  "So I got to have a positive attitude toward it."

It is the excitement and positivity that Becerra said will help employees and the city of Plainview get through.

"I see a lot of excitement in everyone's eyes," Becerra said.  "Just excited for a new life I guess."