1,000 Visit Recruiters at Job Fair

When Ron and Cynthia Escobedo set out with their three children Thursday morning, their goal was to check out a few library books. Instead, they may soon be checking in for new jobs.

The couple happened upon the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Orange County’s first job fair. When they parked at the regional library in Garden Grove, they saw a sandwich board pointing the way to the employment expo.

“We saw the job fair sign and decided to come in,” said Cynthia Escobedo, 35, who is looking for a part-time position to help support the family while she attends college.

Husband Ron, also 35, has been out of work for about a year and was enthusiastic about the response from employer representatives at the job fair.

“I have sent out 23 resumes and haven’t had one call back yet,” Escobedo said of his job search. “Here I dropped off four resumes,” including one with an application for a senior custodian job at UCI. “I used to work for UCI Medical Center.”

UC Irvine, Radio Shack, Taco Bell, Disneyland and the Garden Grove Police Department were among the two dozen organizations represented at the job fair. Recruiters paid $500 apiece to set up tables at the fair.

The chamber organized the event “because our businesses are having difficulty finding qualified employees,” spokeswoman Viola Myre said. “We knew that there were a lot of qualified people. We just needed a way to get to them.”

The county’s black, Vietnamese and Korean American chambers of commerce helped get the word out, Myre said, and as a result the fair drew an estimated 1,000 job seekers. The day was so successful, she said, that another fair may be scheduled in about six months.

Positions in a broad range of occupations, from professional to entry-level, were advertised at the fair.

Recruiter Grace Brooks, personnel technician with the Santa Ana Unified School District, said she was looking for teachers, particularly Spanish speakers, as part of the district’s move to reduce the size of classes in the primary grades.

Brooks estimated that she spoke with 150 people in the first three hours of the fair. “It’s been a wonderful, wonderful turnout,” she said.

Jo Anne Gamble, employment manager with United Western Medical Center, said she spoke with at least 200 job hopefuls in just a few hours. She was seeking registered nurses, surgical technicians and receptionists for the medical center’s two facilities.

The turnout for the fair was tremendous, Gamble said. “You couldn’t see past the table. I’m very happy.”

Felix Castillo, who has lived in Orange County just a week, said he got some good job leads at the fair. “I handed out four or five resumes, mostly in marketing and sales,” said Castillo, a former representative of food company Frito-Lay. “I feel confident.”