Long on experience

      Meet Shirley McCauley, a 66-year-old retired clerk.
      "I've been in the work force 40 years," she said. "I've got a lot to give."
      She was one of about 800 older workers who participated in a senior citizen job fair sponsored by the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. The fair attracted 24 employers, as well as some government and nonprofit organizations.
      Job seekers lined up 30 minutes before the fair started at the Sawyer Building. "It's been a huge success," said Roger Bremner, administrator of the State Job Training Office.
      "Everybody seems to be getting good applicants," Bremner said, "quality people that they want to hire."
      Alex Luengas, division director of Accountemps, an operation of Robert Half International, agreed. "We've had a tremendous response."
      Luengas said older workers are more loyal and more stable, but they usually don't have the computer expertise of younger workers.
      Consider McCauley. She worked at University Medical Center for 13 years. She joined the Rio staff when the resort opened and then lost her job when the company downsized.
      "I really felt that they would have rehired me if it hadn't been for the age," she said.
      Ray Markwell, 65, retired in September after 20 years at the State Industrial Insurance System where he helped disabled workers start new careers.
      "After a couple of months, I got bored," Markwell said. "You can do (only) so much fishing."
      He applied at Reno Air, Caesars Palace and Silver State Disposal Service Inc., where he would consider employment as a dispatcher.
      Other employers at the fair included banks, retailers, the Furnace Creek Inn & Ranch Resort of Death Valley and Southwest Gas Corp.
      Some applicants came in wheelchairs. A retired locomotive engineer from Cleveland asked not to be identified. He wants work but didn't want to argue with his working wife, who prefers that he stay home.
      The former railway worker has a degree in psychology also. But he was interested in a part-time job requiring less education, such as telemarketing.
      Feride Welshons, employment programs manager at Nellis Air Force Base, attended to study the job fair's effectiveness.
      "We do job fairs, of course," Welshons said. "So we're spying."
      Welshons' office helps Air Force retirees and the older children and spouses of military people find employment.
      Her office will hold a job fair for children of military people on May 1 and for adults at Nellis on May 7.
      Her associate, Rolland Adams, a retired Air Force master sergeant, understands both the value of experienced workers and the need of older people to find gainful employment.
      He works as a volunteer maintaining a database of retired Air Force people and spouses who are seeking employment. He gives employers information about job applicants at no charge.