Danbury job fair draws a crowd

DANBURY, Conn. (WTNH) -- With a jobless rate of more than eight percent, thousands of people in Connecticut continue to struggle to find work.

That's why job fairs, like one that happened in Danbury Wednesday, draw such big crowds.

When you walk into a job fair organizers will tell you, you never know what to expect. A few years ago, there was a little bit of fear from both prospective employers and employees; this year, that's not the case.

"What types of businesses are hiring," asked News 8's Erin Logan.

"It's anything at the end from technical positions, scientific, medical, to clerical, we have mom and pop organizations looking for business managers," said Bob Keller, Cumulus Media.

About 40 to 50 businesses took part in the Department of Labor and the City of Danbury's Career Fair.

"We're typically getting 800 to 1,200 applicants coming in here," said Keller.

We're not talking just the unemployed, but people looking for a career change and a new challenge. Anthony Amente is one of those candidates. He has a marketing degree from Western Connecticut State.

"I'm currently a supervisor at a company in Danbury and I'm looking to get into the business aspect of what I went to school for," said Amente.

He finds it's not the lack of jobs, but the competition.

Employers agree. It's the competition that complicates their decision making.

"We search through about 50 different applicants before we can find the one that suits our needs," said Darryl Johnson, co-owner of Service Stars.

Their goal Wednesday was to find two people, just two, to be part of their residential repair team. Most importantly, a client care representative.

"Do you think you found your two hires yet," asked Logan.

"There's some very good candidates in it," said Johnson.

If you missed out on Wednesday's event and you want to get your resume out there, you still can, just go the Department of Labor's website and all the opportunities presented will be there.