The Employment Guide, job fair employers, and job-seekers at Citifield have given us reason to believe that the sky is the limit once again for this great nation’s economy and job market. On Thursday, May 14th 2009, at 8am people weren’t lined up outside of the Mets new stomping ground to catch an early game. No, the line was full of Job-Seekers galore looking to hopefully help in the lowering of the tremendous 8.1% unemployment rate (www.labor.state.ny.us/) in New York. Upstairs waiting in the Caesar’s Club Room, were employers ranging from Time Warner Cable, to Intergen Healthcare, to New York Life, with over 30 companies in total. All of whom had positions to fill and were definitely in higher spirits than in previous fairs over the past year or so.
Zenon Terry, who is a Manager at Sprint which was one the event sponsors, had many positions available for the first time in over a year, was certainly optimistic in his outlook on the future. “After heavy layoffs in January (8,000), it is a wonderful sign that we are getting back into the hiring process” Mr. Terry stated. He has been with Sprint for over 12 years, seeing all of the ups and downs the company has had to offer. “Company’s coming out in full force to help the ailing workforce and join The Employment Guide in their effort to place Americans back in the workforce (part of the “Putting Americans Back to Work Job Fair Series 2009-Putting 10,000 American’s back to work), is definitely a sign of the start of a turnaround!”
The tell-tale sign that things are beginning to turn around is the attitude of the job-seekers. Just a few months back, the average job-seeker was somber, distraught, and disgruntled. At Thursday’s event, almost every job-seeker I spoke to was optimistic and upbeat. Paul S, a job-seeker from Brooklyn was laid off 3 months ago after being with his previous company for 8 years, seemed to be overly excited about the prospects of his future. “I have been down for the past 3 months while searching far and wide for a job in my field, but today’s event has given me hope!” Paul, who interviewed with the FBI and New York Life on the spot, was offered a position with New York Life, and was given strong signals that he could get an administrative position with the FBI. “I haven’t been excited about work in a while, probably because there have not been any jobs available! Today shows me that with a turnout like this, the economy has reached its bottom, and is starting to make its way upward”.
After a day of on the spot interviews, hiring’s left and right, optimism by the boatload, and over 1,000 job seekers, it was certainly nice to see a changing in guard. Optimism, which has been seldom seen over the past year or so regarding employment and the economy has decided to peak its head out of the sand and say hello. The real question is whether or not it is coming out for good? Based on Thursday’s events and turnout, one can only predict that the future has good things in store for the job-seeker.
To see upcoming Job Fairs held by The Employment Guide in your area, visit www.employmentguide.com/browse_jobfairs.html.