Open House/Job Fair in South Windsor on Saturday, February 8

Fast-Growing, Ticketing-Software Company Provides Opportunity to Job Seekers

When times were tough and the future seemed bleak, Crystal Carter never gave up hope for the sake of her six young children, “Even while I was looking for a safe place to sleep every night, I had to believe it would get better, or I would have lost hope and my mind.”

After being jobless and homeless, forced to move her children from several shelters and hotels in Mystic, Waterbury, New London and Hartford, Carter now sees light at the end of the tunnel. She was recently hired at TicketNetwork® in South Windsor. “Life has certainly improved from those dark days; I have a safe place for my children, and car to get to work. With the security I feel with having this job, now I’m focused on buying a house. And on top of that, I’m able to eat for free and do my laundry at the job while I work.”

Mershonda Hall feels the same. “I was working three minimum wage jobs, not getting enough hours to live. Then one Sunday my pastor suggested I attend a job fair at another local church. That Sunday sermon changed my life.” In October, Hall attended a job fair at the Light of the Gospel Ministry in Manchester, CT sponsored by TicketNetwork®. That evening 54 people attended. Hall was ecstatic to hear that she was one of eight applicants offered a job. “I couldn’t believe that this company would take a chance with hiring me; I felt like I was given a second chance at life.”

The recruiting effort at the Manchester church was the brainchild of Don Vaccaro, founder and Chief Executive Officer of TicketNetwork®, and Reverend Boise Kimber, a pastor in New Haven and Hartford, who is also president of the CT State Missionary Baptist Convention. “Don and I were talking one day and he mentioned that he was trying to find a way to recruit in the urban centers. My churches are full of parishioners praying for employment opportunities, so a partnership was born. That job fair in Manchester was more successful than either of us could have imagined.”

Second chances are just what Vaccaro and TicketNetwork® are striving to provide. “I’m a guy who wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth, and have made my fair share of mistakes,” said Vaccaro. “I consciously decided over 30 years ago that we should to reach out to the community, and where we could, provide second chances to people who are normally overlooked. We have discovered that folks who are given a second chance work really hard to prove they were worth the risk, and usually do well at the job.”

Rev. Kimber, who is currently running to be the next president of the National Baptist Convention USA, the nation’s largest and oldest association of black Baptists, hopes to replicate this partnership on a national level. “Churches can be a gold mine for these companies trying to hire,” said Kimber.

“I would never have applied to this company if they had not come to the church," says Hall, “I just didn’t know that they even existed. It was truly a blessing. Here, I don’t feel like a number.”

President Barack Obama recently challenged business leaders to provide second chances and hire the long-term unemployed. "I'm challenging CEOs from some of America's best companies to hire more Americans who've got what it takes to fill that job opening, but have been laid off so long no one will give their resume an honest look," Obama said. In his latest State of the Union address he challenged Congress to support workers and “Give America a raise," vowing to raise the minimum wage for federal contractors to $10.10 per hour.

On the heels of the President’s call for higher wages, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy has proposed raising the state’s wage to $10.10 per hour.

Vaccaro’s TicketNetwork® has met that challenge. The company currently has a total workforce of 525, with more than 235 hired in 2013. With wages that start between $11.25 to $13 per hour plus incentives, his company is well above the state’s $8.70 minimum wage.

Vaccaro has plans continue that hiring wave in 2014. On Saturday, February 8th, TicketNetwork® will host an open house from 10am to 1pm, where they will take applications and interview for another fifteen order fulfillment, customer service, business, executive and support assistant positions. For more information, visit the company website at www.careers.TicketNetwork.com. Applicants are encouraged to pre-register.

While Vaccaro hopes to have the same success at his upcoming open house, Rasheena Witter, a recently unemployed single mother of two and also a new hire from the Manchester job fair, encourages others to apply. “I was super excited to find such a good job after being unemployed for a little while. TicketNetwork® has been flexible when it comes to my childcare issues, and I see opportunities for advancement here. If you are not working you would be a fool to not apply to this company.”

TicketNetwork, headquartered in South Windsor, is an online marketplace that provides an outlet for buyers and sellers of tickets to live entertainment events. The company was founded in 2002. It operates several retail sites and partners with large name brand travel and media companies.