Gulf Correctional hosts career fair
It’s not every day that you get to come face to face with a k-9, watch an electrical line demonstration or climb through a helicopter, but on Saturday afternoon at the Stone Mill Creek Fire department, visitors of all ages got to do just that.
The career fair, hosted by the Gulf Correctional Institution, aimed to bring out members of the community to explore job options available at several local businesses and institutions – including the correctional institution, Gulf Coast Electric Cooperative and the fire department, among others.
The visitors let out a cheer as a medical helicopter landed on the property, ready to be explored.
“I enjoyed supporting Gulf CI in their Career Day at the Stone Mill Creek Fire Department,” said Gulf County Economic Development Coalition Director Jim McKnight.
“Thanks to participants at Gulf Coast Electric Coop, Air Heart, White Towing, the Gulf County Sheriff’s office and K-9 unit, the Stone Mill Creek Fire Department and the Gulf County Economic Development Coalition. Kudos to Barbara Cantrell for coordinating the event and for recent successes in hiring correctional officers.”
Gulf Correctional has ramped up hiring efforts in recent months thanks to a series of pay raises courtesy of the state government, bringing the correctional officer starting salary statewide to $41,600, with a $1,000 signing bonus.
McKnight said this has helped reduce many employment vacancies within the facility.
However, there are still many positions to fill.
“We seem to be on a roll up there a little bit, but we want to keep the momentum going,” said McKnight. “And that is vital to the city, the county and the school system in terms of getting those work crews back out to help with maintenance and stuff like that.”
For more information about jobs at the correctional institution, visit http://www.fldcjobs.com/.
Meet the Editor
Wendy Weitzel, The Star’s digital editor, joined the news outlet in August 2021, as a reporter covering primarily Gulf County.
Prior to then, she interned for Oklahoma-based news wire service Gaylord News and for Oklahoma City-based online newspaper NonDoc.com during her four years at the University of Oklahoma, from which she graduated in May with degrees in online journalism and political science.
While at OU, Weitzel was selected as Carnegie-Knight News21 Investigative Fellow among 30 top journalism students from around the country. She also was senior editor managing a 12-person newsroom in coordination with Oklahoma Watch, a non-profit news organization in eastern Oklahoma.