Job seekers lined up in the cold at the Prince of Orange Mall on Thursday morning, waiting for a regional job fair to open for business.

They sought to make their best first impression to employers in a tight job market.

“I might give out, but I am not going to give up,” said Samantha Clifton, a 2007 Claflin University sociology and criminal justice graduate.

“They call you in for interviews, but you never hear back from them. You wonder if it is good to go to school four years and get a degree. You either have to have a master’s or a doctor’s degree now,” she said.

With two children at South Carolina State University, Clifton said she wants a job that will help her advance in her field of study. She currently works with the Barnwell School District.

“Nobody will give you an opportunity even to get a good job,” she said. “It is a struggle.”

The Orangeburg Job Fair was expected to attract more than 1,000. It was sponsored by the Prince of Orange Mall, state and local agencies.

“They were waiting at the door,” said John Timmons of the S.C. Department of Social Services. “This area has been really hard-hit by the economy.”

Area Workforce Developer Richard Lee said the economic downtown has impacted a broad range of people.

“We have a lot of college age and a lot of older people coming in,” he said.

Orangeburg resident Nate Johnson, 32, has been out of a job since March. That’s when Cox Wood Preserving’s Branchville plant laid him off after a portion of its building was damaged by a tornado. He was never called back.

Johnson has had to draw unemployment, but that has not helped offset the high cost of gasoline, groceries and other family bills.

“I have been steady looking back and forth, this way and that way” he said. “I have been online. Most of the jobs I see are in Columbia, Augusta and Aiken. I am only getting so much on my unemployment to pay my bills. Gas is too high to travel. That is kind of far right now.”

Johnson said he submitted a few applications at the job fair and to a temp agency.

“This is the longest ever,” he said, when asked about the time he has been searching for employment. “Now, there is no hiring and no work. I have a family and three cars. It is good they are paid for. That is the only good thing.”

Jonathan Frazier, 31, says while he is looking to go back to work for Husqvarna Outdoor Products, the seasonal nature of the company has him hitting the pavement hard looking for a job for about four months. He worked as a forklift operator at the Allied Air plant in Blackville.

“The economy is making things hard,” he said, while filling out several job applications. “Jobs are going overseas.”

Frazier, who is a father of two girls, said he has been unemployed before but has noticed this time around, manufacturing jobs seem harder to find.

“I am always looking for something a little stable and more long-term,” he said. “You take what you can get right now.”

Brian Caldwell, who retired from the Army in 1996, is employed with a fertilizer trucking business in Bowman. He came to the fair in an effort to “test the market.”

“I am just looking for a change of pace,” he said. “Sitting around the house drinking coffee all day gets old. I have to do something.”

Caldwell said he has been looking for employment for about three to four weeks.

“It seems like a lot of things in here are white collar,” he said. “I have a couple of things I am looking at. I am just exploring my options right now.”

In its fifth year, the job fair is typically well-attended in a region where unemployment numbers have often been among the highest in the state. It featured about 59 employers and job service agencies.

In September, Orangeburg County’s unemployment rate was 12.5 percent. Bamberg County’s was 13.6 percent, while Calhoun County’s was 9.2 percent.

Statewide, the unemployment rate was 7.3 percent.

n T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com

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