Valley Hiring Spree Draws All Ages

The line of job applicants waiting to get into the Valley Hiring Spree Wednesday morning was huge. At times, it doubled back on itself and snaked into the ballfield at the Balboa Sports Complex off Burbank Boulevard. People of all ages stood in line: gray-haired men wearing shirts and ties, young men dressed in their best jeans and collared shirts and women of all ages wearing dresses, pants or full business suits—all striving to look professional and hirable.

Most seemed optimistic, like job seeker Annette Estrada of Tujunga, who said after she was laid off two years ago and her unemployment ran out, she turned to general relief. Now, she was seeking a customer service job, suitable to her experience of 11 years, but was open to anything.

“I have to be,” Estrada said of her positive attitude. “I have to be my own cheerleader, so I can pay my bills. Nobody’s going to do it for me.”

Turning to the men in line beside her, she asked, “Guys! You want to do it for me?,” generating a burst of laughter.

The job fair was one in a series put on by the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE). The last LACOE job fair, in the Antelope Valley, drew more than 5,000 attendees, a job fair record for them.

Wednesday’s job fair seemed to draw a large, steady number of applicants who were admitted at intervals into the sports complex in groups of 15 or 20 at a time to avoid overcrowding.

The Valley Hiring Spree focused on jobs within the San Fernando Valley and drew more than 50 Valley employers offering a total of 1,500 actual job openings. Although many of the jobs were seasonal, they were “all name-brand companies that you recognize and know,” said Jessica Williams, one of the LACOE organizers.

Employers seeking workers included Los Angeles Valley College, security firm Andrews International, UPS, New York Life Insurance, Vons and retailers such as Target, Pier 1 Imports, the Disney Store, TJ Maxx and Ann Taylor. Also seeking workers were recruiters from the U.S. Navy and Army, the Los Angeles Police and Fire departments and government-sponsored, nonprofit and private employment agencies.

Williams said LACOE job fairs differ from others in that LACOE prohibits employers offering commission-only jobs and training schools seeking paying students. Plus, workshops scheduled during the morning offered job-seeking tips such as how to keep traffic tickets from being an employment barrier and how to use social media to search for work.

Courtney Pierson, 21, of Sunland, said the workshop she attended provided good tips about when to apply for seasonal jobs, which she seeks before starting training as an X-ray technician. A single mom with a 2-year-old daughter, Pierson was one of many job seekers from GAIN, a welfare-to-work program, which had a separate registration line at the job fair.

Another type of job seeker was Jeffrey Gray, currently enrolled in the job-assistance, WorkSource program. With an extensive employment history in supermarkets and in running his own business, Gray said he lost his job in 2008 as a transportation foreman for an air-conditioning company that was hard hit by the construction downturn.

Currently living in a Salvation Army facility in Canoga Park, Gray proudly showed off his tie pin, awarded for completing a six-month alcohol rehabilitation program and five months of looking for work. Scanning the crowded center, he was worried.

“It looks like lots more people than jobs," he said. "It just doesn’t look that good.”

Todd Sexton, who was staffing the Dignity Memorial table, a funeral, cremation and cemetery service, said his company had a counselor position to fill and accepted 100 resumes from job seekers at the Antelope Valley job fair. From those 100, 12 people were selected for a group interview. Sexton was still seeking to fill the opening and appreciated the mix of ages in Encino, because “life experience is necessary for the job,” he said.

Despite the seemingly high number of applicants-to-job-openings, Mary Anne Soriano, 50, of North Hollywood, said she had scored an appointment for a job interview as a cashier at a retail store. As she left the job fair, she held a bag filled with information about other possible openings.

“I was so excited [about the job fair], I woke up at 6:30,” Soriano said. “Now, I’m excited to go home and go through all of it.”