A job fair held Thursday at the Caldwell County Area Technology Center drew a crowd of more than 200 people interested in local and area employment opportunities.
The turnout pleased organizers of the event, as well as vocational school administrators, who are already looking forward to hosting future events.
“I certainly think it’s something we would definitely want to do again,” said ATC Principal Arthur Dunn. “We would definitely be honored to have it.”
The job fair, sponsored by the Princeton-Caldwell Chamber of Commerce and the Caldwell/Lyon Partnership, in cooperation with the West Kentucky Workforce Development Board, was held from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday.
It offered community job-seekers the chance to speak with representatives from a variety of area businesses and gain information on employment resources, resume preparation and other skills.
Close to 15 firms were represented.
“I was very impressed with the turnout we had,” Dunn said, “of companies and also of people we had coming through — adults and students.”
A large number of Caldwell County High School students visited the fair, and Dunn said all of the ATC’s Caldwell County students, as well as some seniors from Providence High School, also participated.
Those who attended the fair found the companies receptive to new employees.
“Several of the companies were taking resumes yesterday, and I know we had one or two that were taking applications,” said Dunn.
At every hour on the hour during the fair, those on hand had the opportunity to hear speakers from various businesses offer their tips toward gaining employment in their particular companies.
Speakers from Caldwell County Hospital, Exel Logistics, Princeton Health and Rehab and other firms offered advice to the job-seekers in attendance.
“All of it was very common-sense types of things, but it was great to hear it from an employer,” said Dunn.
Carolyn Balthrop, workforce development manager with the Kentucky Department for Workforce Investment, showed participants how to go about searching for jobs online, through the Department for Employment Services, and representatives from the Caldwell County Adult Learning Center offered information on the TABE test, an assessment used by many employers as a screening tool for applicants.
Participants turning in their resumes were automatically entered into a drawing for the job fair’s grand prize, a Dell laptop computer.
The winner of the drawing was Codey Adams. All the fair’s participants received giveaways from several of the firms on hand.
