As President-elect Barack Obama fills jobs in his administration, Prince William area residents are lining up for presidential work of another sort: temporary jobs at inaugural balls and parties.
More than 200 people from the region have either applied for positions or have been hired, according to three companies with contracts to supply hospitality workers.
Penguin Staffing Services had 229 Woodbridge residents and nine people from the Manassas area apply through an inauguration job Web site, according to Eleanor French, finance director for the Alexandria-based company.
Penguin was scheduled to staff more than 60 events from Saturday through Wednesday, French said, and the search for qualified workers has almost taken on a life of its own.
"We've completely stopped doing our regular recruiting," French said.
Ironically, Penguin has been so busy preparing for other people's shindigs over the past few weeks that the company's own Christmas party was postponed until after Inauguration Day, she said.
The temporary workers are supplementing regular staff at the party venues. They're bartenders, servers and the like.
And some are way overqualified for the jobs, said Robert Guiney, president of Personnel Plus Hospitality Staffing.
Guiney said a hotel general manager from Philadelphia and owners of catering companies will be filling jobs for his business, which has offices in Baltimore and Hyattsville, Md.
They're not that interested in the $23-to-$35-per-hour pay, he said. They just want to be a part of history. "That's one of the things that really surprised me," Guiney said.
Personnel Plus' hires hail from an area spanning New Jersey to Richmond.
The Supporting Cast, which has an office in Washington, is staffing events that require as few as one or two temp workers to some that need 50 to 100, said Greg Tyler, director of operations for the New York-based company.
At least 30 percent of the 150 to 200 people he's hired for inaugural events are from Virginia.
For the industry, he said, "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Staff writer Jonathan Hunley can be reached at 703-369-5738.
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