1,700 people in the Quad Cities should now have a better chance of finding a job. That was the goal of Wednesday's Career Fair held by the Quad City Times, at the Rhythm City Casino in Davenport.
Marketing Manager, Melissa Christensen, says it's the largest career fair in the Quad Cities, with about 40 employers participating. They include schools and colleges, and companies ranging from Alcoa, to Genesis Health System, to Hy-Vee.
She says the Quad City Times has hosted the career fair for over 7 years.
"We live here, we work here, we care about the community. And we want to see the unemployment rate go down," Christensen says. "We want people to get those jobs, and they're out there."
Michelle Farmer was at the fair recruiting for Von Maur. She says the company has job openings ranging from gift wrappers to office administrators.
"This particular career fair, we get really excited for because there's a lot of traffic and we are typically able to fill many open positions," Farmer says.
Some employers at the fair want to fill as many as 300 positions. Like UnityPoint Health, which is recruiting nurses, medical assistants, and ultrasound technicians.
Christensen says there was already a big line to get into the fair more than an hour before doors opened.