Dozens of U.P. employers hold job fair

What do you do when you have dozens of employers looking to hire and a lot of people looking for work? You hold a job fair. Here’s ABC 10’s Rick Allen.

Employers often say it’s hard to find quality new workers. A lot of potential employees have trouble finding work. To put those two groups together in the same room, the 3rd Annual Keweenaw Job Fair was held at the Finnish American Heritage Center in Hancock.

With roughly 200 job seekers, this year’s fair looks to be the most successful yet.

Finlandia Business Club member Jenna Ollanketo is one of the organizers of the event. She says, “Thirty minutes in we had more people attending than we did in entirety last year, so we’re really pleased with the turnout. It’s very busy in here. We have about 38, 39 companies attending. We did have to turn a few away because we just didn’t have the space to accommodate anymore.”

Several high schools also brought students to the fair so they could get a jump on some employment opportunities.

Chassell High School Senior Shitaye Sam said, “I had a lot of choices and I had a hard time which one to pick, where to apply. So, I got all the applications and I’ll try one of them, I guess, all of them and then whoever will hire me, I’ll take it.”

Already, event organizers are considering taking next year’s job fair to a larger venue to showcase all of the jobs available.