ROGERS — Employment seekers flocked to Rogers on Friday with hopes of landing the perfect job.
The Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2012 NWA Job Fair featured about 70 booths for the estimated 1,200 attendees.
Brad Phillips, vice president of marketing communications for the chamber, said this is the sixth year for the biannual event held at John Q. Hammons Center.
“The job fair ties into the chamber’s overall mission: to build community and grow business,” Phillips said.
Northwest Arkansas trails the country in unemployment, but Phillips said there is still a need for job-related assistance.
The area’s unemployment rate was 6.1 percent with 14,863 people looking for work in July, the most recent numbers available from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The national rate was 8.3 percent.
Kathy Deck, director for the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas, said it’s important to remember rates here may be lower than the national level, but are still much higher than before the recession.
Before the recession, unemployment was less than 4 percent in the area. The National Bureau of Economic Research said the recession began in December 2007.
Deck said job fairs are good, even in times of low unemployment.
“It’s all about finding the right match between employee and employer. It’s not always easy to find a good fit,” Deck said.
Job fairs also allow employees to directly share information about openings with a wide spectrum of people.
Casey Willson, human resource manager for Fayetteville Auto Park, said many people often think all the dealership is hiring are salespeople.
“We have a lot of people who work on the backside,” she said.
Fayetteville Auto Park is always taking applications for many areas from salespeople to service and detail to financing.
“This helps expand our audience,” Willson said.
Kelsey Standefer of Bella Vista is trying to re-enter the work force. The stay-at-home mom used the time away from the corporate world to complete her degree in business administration.
“My child is 3 years old now and I’m ready to go back,” Standefer said.
She has been job hunting on and off for a few months, and said Friday’s job fair was her first big push into the market.
So she is optimistic.
“The first booth I went to was Walmart and I have an interview with them on Monday,” she said.
Dominic Lopez moved to Rogers from Little Rock three weeks ago and is searching for a job in corporate America. He has five months of schooling left at John Brown University before he graduates with a business degree.
“I’ve had some interviews and there are some opportunities out there,” Lopez said.
A problem he is running into is being over-qualified for some jobs and under-qualified for others.
“I feel like I’m in limbo,” Lopez said.
He hopes to find a job that allows him to move up the ladder once he completes his degree.
Deck said not everyone attending a job fair will find instant employment.
“But you can learn what is out there,” she said.