Camden County job fair draws diverse applicants - and employers

It has been a rough two years for Scott Smith of National Park since he lost his job in manufacturing. However, he remained optimistic Tuesday alongside the other hopeful candidates who filled the Collingswood Grand Ballroom at the Camden County Job Fair.

"I'm looking for anything," said Smith, 55. "Two years is a long time."

While the attendees looking for a job represented a wide spread of age and education levels, the potential employers were no less diverse.

More than 100 companies, from newspapers to Pepsi-Cola, were looking for candidates to hire. Other employers included the Camden County and Gloucester Township Police Departments, Lowe's, NJ Transit, PNC Bank, the Salvation Army, Planned Parenthood of Southern New Jersey, Sherwin-Williams, Twin Oaks Community Service, and Visiting Angels.

"It's a very diverse job pool," said Louis Cappelli Jr., director of the Camden County Board of Freeholders. "I've seen people with high school diplomas, and I've seen people with master's'."

Those looking to get more training before entering the job market were directed to the table for the Camden County One-Stop Career Center. The center assesses people before helping to put them in schools or training programs to kick-start their careers.

"If what they want to do is in demand, we're going to send them to training," said Sharon Stephens of the One-Stop program's resource center. "Our expectation is that they work hard, get a job, and stay there at least a year."

The county freeholders have been hosting this event twice a year, in the fall and spring, since 2009, after the economic collapse that left many Americans jobless.

"It's picked up," Cappelli said of the job market, "but it's still not at the place we want it to be."

County officials expected about 2,000 job seekers to attend Tuesday's event.

Camden County's unemployment rate has declined from 10.4 percent in late 2009 to 7.4 percent in August. The improvement appears to be reflected in the numbers of applicants drawn to the job fairs. As recently as 2012, one of the fairs drew about 3,000 people.

Assemblyman Gilbert "Whip" Wilson (D., Camden) was excited about the numbers of job applicants as well as potential employers who showed up Tuesday.

"It's good to see so many people out here looking for jobs and also so many people looking to hire," he said. "It's a win-win, this kind of thing."

Camden resident Omaris Rivera was out of work for about a year after having a baby, but after recently becoming certified as a home health aide, she said, she was ready to hit the job market once more.

"I'm open to different things," she said. "I've been looking around and came across this one job I feel I'm qualified for."

Cappelli said some companies were looking to hire on the spot, while others would accept applications and resumés and call back potential candidates.

Tim Ellis of Primerica Financial in Pennsauken said the company, which helps people learn how to save for retirement, hoped to fill 20 positions within the next few weeks. Since Primerica will train and license its hires, Ellis said, he has accepted applications from people "across the gamut" of education levels.

"This will be an ongoing effort. It doesn't stop today," Cappelli said. "The goal is to hire as many folks as possible. It's that simple."