“Welcome everyone to the first-ever Reaver Job Fair. Here in this park, we have employers looking for workers, as well as the city administration office which will be registering public workers and available to any settlers who want to farm the open plains.” The guide announced as they reached the edge of the city, where a large landscaped park, filled with exotic fruit and nut trees was filled with Reavers.
“Come one, come all, and get your applications in, many great bonuses await the right workers.” A Reaver was calling over a megaphone when the first load of refugees arrived in the city.
There were already people there, from the other ships in the system, many of whom had also picked up passengers, but not in such high numbers as Terminus.
The signage in the park was very clear about the various jobs, but some of the refugees weren’t sure what sort of job they would even be suited for in this world, having done something specialized, or even nothing at all back on Kepler Terminus.
“I was a homemaker back on Kepler Terminus, but my Husband didn’t leave with me and the kids were all at the academy.” One woman explained to the organizer.
“If you’re not looking for a new husband, then we have housekeeping, city park maintenance, and various cooking jobs. Do you have an active system?” The guide asked.
“Rank D Minus. I flunked out of the academy, even the infantry didn’t want me. But I’m a pretty good cook.” The woman shrugged.
“Then try over there with the restaurant workers. They will be testing the applicants inside a VR simulation, so everyone has a chance to prove themselves.” The guide informed her, then sent the woman on her way and greeted the next troubled arrival.
“I haven’t worked since I retired from the military. PTSD they said when they locked me up.” The man informed her. He still looked rather young, so he likely wasn’t retired for long after his ten years in the infantry.
“What did you do in the infantry?” The guide asked, preparing to find a spot to send him.
“Regimental Logistics Sergeant.”
That was an easy one to work with. “Head to the city section, and tell them your skill set. Logistics skills are always in need, and they can place you either with the city or refer you to a transport company scheduling deliveries or something.” She informed the veteran, who nodded happily.
More than a few fights broke out during the job fair, for a wide variety of reasons, but overall it was going better than expected.
None of the sections were extremely short on people, and after dealing with the drunken bystanders who had accompanied the Reaver Recruiters for a few minutes the Hospitality sector was no longer flooded with applicants.
There was still some resistance from the more prudish refugees about what all classified as hospitality though. Anything that the workers were willing to offer, as long as it didn’t harm anyone, was fair game.
But, to some of the refugees, openly recruiting topless servers and prostitutes in public was a step too far.
Max watched the chaos from a feed Nico had patched into the city’s security cameras, while she was laughing at the chaos, and pointing out random entertaining bits.
“Oh, check out the cooks.” She laughed, rewinding it a bit.
A recruiter was telling two cooks that couldn’t seem to get along to either solve it between themselves or go find another company’s line to take their test results to, while the servers told them both to get lost.
It was a huge argument, right up until the housewife who had been asking for directions earlier grabbed them by their ears and forcibly dragged them out of line, then sent them in their way with a kick to the backside.
“That’s the can-do attitude we need around here.” The recruiter cheered, but she only stared him down for a few seconds.
“I expect you’ll keep better discipline with the ones you actually hire.” She insisted.
“Oh, I like this one. Hey girlie, want a job with special benefits?” Another Reaver from the Company asked, giving a lewd hip thrust.
She looked down at his waist and laughed. “Little boy, don’t flatter yourself, that’s neither special nor a benefit.”
The recruiter snorted in amusement and thumped his compatriot on the head. “You know what Lady, you’re hired. Pick your kitchen staff from the applicants.”
Max shook his head at the chaos. How they expected anyone to work in those conditions was beyond him, but most of the retail and factory jobs seemed to be pretty normal and laid back, it was just the hospitality jobs that were so rowdy.
The farmers were the exact opposite. The recruiters and applicants were having some sort of nerd out, comparing seeds and crop rotation diagrams while gesturing at the biodomes built into the city for the purpose of local food production.
Max didn’t know much about the topic, but they looked like they were really into whatever they were talking about. The city designers from Comor would love them, he was sure.
This city wasn’t built up in the air, but the high-density food production was very similar.
The last spot Max checked before returning to the drudgery of making sure the ship got safely and completely unloaded was the applicants for factory construction jobs.
That was the mainstay of the blue-collar Kepler citizen. They supervised an automated machine as it made parts, moved inventory around by forklift, or worked one of the many specialized assembly units.
Kepler Terminus preferred the final assembly of precision parts be done by humans where possible, then double-checked by both automated scans and an extra human so that no mistakes were made.
The AI loved to chastise them for making mistakes, so they got very good at their jobs, while not needing to make specialized jigs and machinery to do final assembly on special orders. That was the one great advantage humans had over a standard assembly robot. The ability to change patterns and tools in an instant.
The planet wasn’t planning any large-scale manufactory work, but parts still needed to be produced on demand for customers who had damaged ships or needed spare parts, and the more skilled workers could branch out into other fields once the essential jobs were filled.
The only thing that they were really short on now was Mecha technicians who had experience with multiple nations’ patterns of Mecha. Every Reaver company wanted them, and the stations around the planet needed them, but they weren’t something you could just stumble across by accident.