Town of Hempstead job fair draws crowd of over 3,000

HempsteadWorks recently held a job fair, which was described as the most successful to date — with more than 80 businesses participating, 3,000 people attending and hundreds of applications being filled out.

The April 20 event drew a line of business-clad hopefuls that stretched out the door of the Freeport Recreation Center, down the sidewalk and around the corner. While last September’s job fair produced 1,500 people seeking employment, last week’s fair saw more than double those numbers. HempsteadWorks runs a job fair in the spring and fall of each year.

“It’s so people can have a better quality of life, for employment, so they can support their families and strengthen the economy,” Eric Mallette, commissioner of  the Town of Hempstead’s Occupational Resources, said. “And also to give back to the community if they have gainful employment. And a lot of employers are looking for employees. We’ve been pretty successful in helping them.”

The more than 80 businesses featured opportunities from nearly every feasible field — retail, health care, education, security, banking, hospitality and more.

“We want to make sure that there’s a diverse group of businesses and industries available to everyone,” Kurt Rockensies, the town’s deputy commissioner, said. “We try to get every industry possible to participate.”

Jeffrey Johnson, program director of Urban Seniors Jobs Program, with the Urban League of Westchester County Inc., noted that job fairs have been the source of plenty of success for his company. Many of their hires came directly from job fair applications.

“We come as often as we can,” Johnson said. “HempsteadWorks does a great job of getting the word out to the public. Our recruiting efforts have been very successful due to this kind of job fair.”

Would-be employees worked their way through the crowded gymnasium, booth by booth. People of all skill sets, experience levels and backgrounds — from recent high school graduates in death metal T-shirts to seniors in three-piece suits — sought an employment match.

“I’m a pandemic graduate, so I wasn’t able to gain a lot of the experience that people wanted from me,” Shannon Roth, 25, an information technology specialist, said. “It’s a very difficult field right now. I’m still pushing myself out there.”

Where some applicants seemed out of their comfort zone applying to positions in a medium other than LinkedIn — awkwardly laying their resumes on a table and walking away without a word — others thrived in the in-person networking environment.

“When you apply to jobs online, there’s no personality or face behind the application,” said Dejeane Edouard, a job-seeker and 2021 graduate who had just finished a conversation with a representative at the PSEG booth.

Edouard said employers at the job fair “get to see the person they’re talking to. So maybe if they just saw your application it didn’t grab their attention, but maybe there’s something in your vibe — maybe you’re articulate, maybe some energy exists in you.”

Employers agreed that an applicant’s skill in face-to-face conversations is a major plus in the hiring process, and a job fair is the perfect way to find these potential employees.

“It’s great to see them face-to-face rather than just pulling their resume, particularly for hiring for a position in a retail brand,” Jeff Pangburn, assistant vice president and senior recruiter for TD Bank, said. “You get to see them and how they interact with people. People from our branches are generally hiring people from the local community, to help people from that community. So it’s important to see how they interact with you.”

While many participants were searching for companies with a need for a specific skill or experience, plenty of others were present to see what’s out there and to expand their horizons.

“It gives everyone a good opportunity to push your limits, try to be outside the box, to go to a job you’re not comfortable with but willing to learn,” job-seeker Dominic Parkin, 23, said. “It’s good to jump into the deep end.”

For more information about HempsteadWorks’ employment opportunities, go to HempsteadWorks.com or call (516) 485-5000.