Getting the job: Who's still searching?

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Though statewide unemployment is dropping, things still aren't easy here in Michigan. So what's the real story? Who is and is not getting a job? And what does it take to find -- and keep -- a job in today's market?

There are many positives happening in West Michigan: Manufacturers continue to report they are adding jobs and December 2012's unemployment rate was 6.2% in both Kent and Ottawa counties.

State numbers, however, show a more realistic number of what's going on for job seekers. The statewide Department of Labor numbers show a 9.1% unemployment rate.

But when factoring others unsatisfied with their employment level, that number balloons to 16.6%. That's called "labor underutilization." The term includes those unemployed, those discouraged by the job market and those working part-time who want to work full-time.

24 Hour News 8 spend three days from March 6 to March 8 at an event called "Ready NOW!" on Grand Valley State University's Allendale campus.

Michigan Works!, The Right Place, and Goodwill were a few of the organizations that came together to put on the innovative three-day event..

"Instead of a typical career fair, let's do something that really brought them together," Joel Westmaas of Michigan Works! said, explaining the 13 companies from five counties would be there all three days.

"That's a huge investment for them, but there's a real benefit," he said. "That direct employer-job seeker interaction that's not in an interview or in a recruiting type of setting."

Ready NOW! is two days of workshops for job seekers to learn and employers to take notes. On day three, upon completion of the workshops, employees are guaranteed three interviews.

There are plenty of stories of struggle among the 80 or so applicants.

"(I have) a lot of motivation. A lot of people who are depending on me, so that's why I'm here," said George Evans, a Muskegon-area father of two who wants a job with benefits for his family.

"They know daddy's not working now," Grand Rapids' Lester Meadows explained of his three children. "I've had nothing. Assignments got ended."

"It gets discouraging after a while," 58-year-old David Gualtieri noted. Gualtieri was a printing pressman for 30 years before taking a buyout.

"As a single mom, you're kind of backed up into a corner," Maria Quinton said. "What are you going to do? It's kind of hard."

"If I don't do it, my kids won't eat," Marquise Love told 24 Hour News 8. The 23-year-old father of four has bounced around between several staffing companies.

24 Hour News 8 tracked the progress of several of these workers over the weeks following the program and will update several of their stories in the weeklong series "Getting the Job."

Getting the Job will take you through the job search to help you or someone you know stand out from the crowd, nail the interview and know the market.