They want jobs. They need to work. From Laguna Boulevard in Elk Grove to Sunrise Boulevard in Citrus Heights, job seekers lined up before dawn Tuesday and crowded McDonald's restaurants across the Sacramento region late into the afternoon on the restaurant chain's national hiring day.
The fast-food chain hoped to hire 50,000 employees for its more than 14,000 U.S. locations, including about 600 employees at its 165 sites in the Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto area Tuesday.
That averages to less than three jobs per outlet nationally, although some local sites said they were planning to hire as many as 15.
That mattered little to Jason Scott of Sacramento. He just needed one.
Scott, 24, a cook and a recent transplant from Washington, D.C., had hopscotched half the city by midafternoon, filling out applications, waiting in lines, looking for work since 7:30 a.m. at one of the few places hanging the help-wanted sign.
"It's my fourth stop — two on Mack, one on Florin and then I'm here on K Street, trying my hardest," he said.
Scott hoped he had a leg up. He worked five years at McDonald's in Washington, D.C.
"I hope to show I can bring something to the table here," he said. "Hopefully, I can win here and get a job."