There were a lot of people looking for work and a lot professions looking for workers as evidenced by the nearly 700 who attended the March 25th Career Fair put on by the Job Center in Kenai. “56 vendors were håere today all looking for people to hire and I would say among the vendors there are over 150 jobs available here today,” said Jackie Garcia, business connection advisor at the Job Center. “We have some employers that are doing on the spot interviews and applications. I expect once again people will be hired here before they go home today,” she added. According to Garcia there is a broader variety of jobs available this year on the Peninsula with the greatest being the health care industry, “It’s a good economic indicator when there are a lot of jobs available it brings new people to the community and keeps many here,” she said.

The Career Fair is also an opportunity for high school students to become acquainted with job opportunities in the local area, “We brought in 120 some juniors and seniors from all three high schools today, the make it a field trip and many of them are looking for summer employment. The City of Kenai is looking for quite a few kids for summer hire along with Fred Myer, Safeway and Home Depot all looking to hire kids that age 17 and older for their summer hire and AT&T is looking for full time year round employees. Additionally students get to learn about what educational pursuits they may need to enter a certain career,” said Garcia.

The Career Fair is the big event of the year for the Job Center in Kenai that works throughout the year to help people find work and businesses find workers, “We also encourage employers to have individual recruitment fairs that we help through the Job Center where we advertise for and channel people to the fairs as well as offering training programs at the Job Center,” said Garcia.