Roadside sign welcoming job applicants, and car buyers at the former Bill Heard dealership in Columbus, Georgia, on Dec. 10, 2008. (Dave Bender)
State Senator Emanuel Jones is reopening a flagship Bill Heard auto dealership in Columbus, as a controversial 15 billion dollar federal bailout for automakers hangs in the balance.
Jones hopes to welcome car buyers into his showroom by Christmas. To do that, he'll need staff and mechanics. On Wednesday, close to 1,000 job seekers packed the showroom.
Torrential rain pounds down on the giant marquee, that reads in moving red letters: "Come Back To Your Legacy – Job Fair Today!"
Close to a 1,000 applicants tried out for 100 positions at the former Bill Heard dealership in Columbus, Georgia, on Dec. 10, 2008. (Dave Bender)
10 job seekers for every spot at the dealership took that advice.
Department of Labor officials say they're expecting close to a thousand to show up, vying for 100 positions.
Scarlet Barker of Columbus has been out of work since August, but worked at Bill Heard in the past. She wonders, however, if that's to her benefit:
“I know almost all of them, because I worked here for years; I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I know most of them that are in here."
Many of them were among the several hundred laid off when Heard shuttered its doors in September.
The chain was 11th largest in the country, with over a dozen lots scattered throughout the southeast, Arizona and Nevada.
But Heard filed bankruptcy after a quadruple whammy of high gas prices, poor sales, a credit crunch, and a state lawsuit charging Heard with 16-years of deceptive sales practices.
Emanuel Jones and Georgia Department of Labor team during the intake of new applicants at the former Bill Heard dealership in Columbus, Georgia, on Dec. 10, 2008. (Dave Bender)
Jones owns two other dealerships, and says he isn't fazed the prospect of General Motors going bankrupt:
"One thing that I know: General Motors is as big a part of America as any other corporate entity, and there's no doubt in my mind that Chevrolet and Cadillac as a brand will always be here."
Jim Hunsinger of the Georgia Department of Labor says he values Jone's optimism.
Georgia Department of Labor's Jim Hunsinger and staff signing in applicants at former Bill Heard dealership in Columbus, Georgia, on Dec. 10, 2008. (Dave Bender)
He's here with a team from the DOL streaming hundreds of applicants into private interviewing booths:
"We appreciate the senator taking that chance in a dire economy."
Jones says there'll be another wave of hiring before a grand opening on December 19th.
Meanwhile, as the line of applicants slowly snakes forward, the rain washes the dust off hundreds of still-unsold cars that fill the parking lot.
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