By Sarrah Peters
News Editor
On Wednesday, August 5, the Senior Activity Center on Broad Street was host to a job fair held by the Gadsden Career Center and City Councilman Thomas Worthy.
The job fair was wildly successful, with hundreds showing up.
“We counted over 400 in the first hour,” said Worthy.
The point of the job fair was to promote an environment where employers could meet potential employees face-to-face, as the process has become largely digitized with online applications.
Employers certainly found applicants that they wanted. Lee Riley, of Personnel Staffing Inc. said that they had gotten easily over a hundred applications.
“It’s been a great job fair,” said Riley.
Overall there was information about jobs from over 60 employers, including some of the biggest businesses in Gadsden, such as Gadsden Regional Medical Center, Goodyear, Gadsden State Community College, Alabama Power, Keystone Foods, IntevaRegions, McDonalds, Attalla Health and Rehab, McDonalds and many more. Tempoary agencies and technical training educational facilities were also present, such as the Job Corps and the U.S.Army.
The fair was especially important to locals after the announcement of 100 jobs lost at Crown Column in Attalla, which will close in October.
According to Worthy, there are plenty of jobs for everyone.
“There are over 8,000 jobs in a 50 mile radius of Gadsden,” said Worthy. “1,300 jobs are right here in Gadsden.”
Worthy deemed the job fair a success and hopes to hold another fair next year and “as long as there are jobs.”