Need work? Lancaster County has openings and they’re looking. York, Chester too.

Locals looking for work may not have to look far.

Lancaster County is hosting a job fair Sept. 20. It’s the first of its kind, but plans are to make it an annual event.

“This job fair will feature only county positions and is an effort to fill current openings, and also to educate the public about opportunities available to them in their hometown,” said county spokesperson Jessica Kennington.

Full-time openings include truck drivers, equipment operators, appraisers, planners. There are jobs in law enforcement and as a 911 operator, as well as maintenance and grounds crew work.

Part-time positions include bus driver, circulation assistant, after school assistant and grounds staff.

Working for the county comes with state health insurance, pension, life insurance, a nurse practitioner on-site and other perks. The county wants businesses, community groups and churches to help get the word out about opportunities for hire in the county.

“We are looking to our first job fair and hope that its success will lead to many years of providing this to the community,” Kennington said.

As of Wednesday morning, Lancaster County had 15 jobs listed in need of workers. Three have been open since Jan. 1. One opened Aug. 28. All are listed as “open until filled.”

As of the 2018 fiscal year, Lancaster County had 503 full-time and 638 part-time employees, according to data from the South Carolina Association of Counties. Lancaster County averages more than six full-time workers for every 1,000 residents within its borders. Payroll in 2018 is just less than $19 million.

But Lancaster County isn’t alone. York and Chester counties have employment opportunities, too.

On Wednesday morning there were 10 listed job openings in York County. They include custodian, planner, finance specialist, nurse, farm assistant, visitor service, early childhood educator, appraiser, detention officer and sheriff’s deputy. The nurse and visitor service filing periods close Aug. 29. Others run through the end of the year. Several close sometime in September.

For the 2018 fiscal year, York County had 833 full-time and 111 part-time employees. York County has almost four full-time employees out of every 1,000 county residents. The 2018 payroll is $50.2 million.

Chester County posted a truck driver and equipment operator job Aug. 9. Other job opportunities with Chester County include maintenance technicians, 911 dispatchers, emergency responders and law enforcement officers.

Hyatte Kelsey, human resources director for the county, said seven jobs were taken down just a couple of weeks ago. Jobs typically run two weeks, sometimes longer depending on the candidate pool.

“The best thing is to go to our website (to find available jobs),” Kelsey said.

Among the more interesting positions open is a recreation director job in Chester County. The county for years relied on volunteer leadership. Now the county is looking for someone to develop a program if not from scratch, at least close to it.

“We really need someone with some experience setting up and coordinating these types of programs,” Kelsey said.

Chester County has 296 full-time and 102 part-time employees as of the 2018 fiscal year, or almost nine full-time employees for every 1,000 county residents. Payroll for the fiscal year tops $9.3 million.

The job fair in Lancaster County will be held 4-7 p.m. Sept. 20 at Council Chambers, 101 N. Main St., Lancaster. For more information, call 803-416-9306.

This story was originally published August 29, 2018 at 5:03 PM.