Networking helps get jobs downtown

Eight establishments lining Clayton and Broad streets have “help wanted” signs hanging in their windows.

Behind the bars and in the kitchens of these eight, and of almost every downtown shop, student employees are ringing up purchases and pouring beer.

How did they get there? Was it shiny blonde hair, countless years of experience or a friend on the inside?

The job market in downtown Athens is extremely competitive due to the uneven ratio of job seekers to available jobs, said Jeff Wilson, front-of-house manager for Mellow Mushroom.