It’s been nearly four months since Spirit Airlines shut down all operations, leaving thousands in Broward County without a job.<\/p>\n
“I wake up every morning wishing I could get on an airplane,” said Debbie Seward.<\/p>\n
This week marks four months since Seward lost her job as a flight attendant when Spirit Airlines shut down.<\/p>\n
“Very tough, very tough every single day I’m out trying to get a job. I’m not ready to retire; I can’t retire financially,” Seward said.<\/p>\n
Her former colleague James Derby is also navigating the turbulent job market.<\/p>\n
“It’s been pretty challenging. I’ve attended four or five job fairs, I’ve submitted many resumes and haven’t heard back from a lot of them. I’ve heard the word ghost a lot,” said Derby, a former Spirit in-flight supervisor.<\/p>\n
Seward and Derby have now attended two job fairs just this week.<\/p>\n
Friday, they were at the annual Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport job fair at the Broward County Convention Center.<\/p>\n
About 20 employers were looking to fill more than 300 positions.<\/p>\n
Some of those jobs are now open after temporary protected status ended for Haitians living in the U.S.<\/p>\n
“With the ending of TPS, we had over 132 people who were let go, but this was in the janitorial services and concession areas,” said Alexandra Davis, Broward County Commissioner, District 7.<\/p>\n
Davis said around 4,000 people registered for the fair, which speaks to the state of the job market.<\/p>\n
Seward says she may have to explore a new route if she can’t find another opportunity to take flight.<\/p>\n
“I miss it dearly every day, so I’m still out here trying to get a job, hopefully in aviation because that’s my passion and my love, if that doesn’t work out, I’ll have to look into something else,” Seward said.<\/p>\n
The next FLL job fair isn’t until next year, but CareerSource Broward is hosting a hospitality and tourism job fair<\/a>\u00a0
<\/a>on September 9th from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at CareerSource Broward South, located at 7550 Davie Road Extension, Hollywood, FL.<\/p>\n