NASA hosts job fair for laid off workers

The fair is being held at the port in Cape Canaveral off of State Road 528. Forty-five employers have come together to accommodate those laid off by NASA.

However, for some laid-off workers, it’s difficult to find a job after working for the shuttle program.

James O’Bryhin got a job with NASA4 1/2 ago after he got out of the Marine Corps.

“I hired on knowing it would come to an end. How can I pass up an opportunity to work on man’s space flight and work on what we do?” O’Bryhin said.

O’Bryhin worked long hours for the thrill of seeing each shuttle liftoff and to know he was a part of it.

“I loved every minute of it. It’s a ship like no other, its place in history secured. The shuttle program pulls into port for the last time, its voyage at an end,” he said.

The end of this voyage was the end of the road for O’Bryhin and roughly 1,500 other employees last week.

Since 2005, the United Space Alliance workforce has been slashed by two-thirds.

As these workers say goodbye to the shuttle program, they’ll have to redefine themselves. O’Bryhin and so many others are trying to figure out what will give them the same thrill and sense of pride.

Several of the job seekers at the fair said that there have been several hires. Scott Robinson runs a wireless technology company and he said former NASA employees are just what he’s looking for.

“We’ve actually found three or four terrific candidates here today,” he said.
Other potential employers like Steve Kuni helped place workers in the past from closed military bases – he said this mass layoff from NASA is no different.

“There are tremendous assets right here in Brevard County that with a little repositioning could actually be an economic engine using this workforce,” Kuni said.

Employees said adapting skills from a job many former NASA employees had for decades is difficult. Ed Hughley worked in data gathering for more than 20 years.

“The skill level is narrower, narrowed right down. So they’re looking for something more specific, so hopefully this can transcend over to that,” he said.
More than a thousand former NASA workers are hitting the unemployment line at the same time. Kristin Lutter said competition for any job is fierce.