California - Hiring Fairs Boost Job Placement, Local Economy

Community Challenge/Problem

Workforce Success Story Submitted By: Smart Business Resource Center

Economic development, local community college, and local business owners come together to match job seekers with open positions.

The majority of companies doing business in rural Northern California are small businesses. One of the challenges they face is marketing their business to attract qualified job seekers. The Smart Center partnered with the local office of the Employment Development Department, Shasta Community College, and the Mt. Shasta Mall in Redding to host a Spring Hiring Fair. The success of the Spring Fair precipitated a second successful hiring fair in the fall.

Board Solution/Innovation

Through the Smart Business Resource Center's business outreach, employers were contacted to participate in the Fair(s). The employer must have an immediate job opening for an hourly or salaried employee. The Smart Center used printed marketing materials, social media, electronic job boards, and emails to businesses, community colleges, local universities, and social service agencies. Flyers were posted in the Job Center and school career centers and press releases were sent to local media for publication. The Mt. Shasta Mall provided the venue and booth set-up for the employers to use for interviews and resume collection. The Smart Center provided maps denoting the employer location, critiqued resumes, made copies of resumes, and provided on-the-spot interview tips.

Outcomes & Results

As a result of the partnerships, Smart Center was able to recruit over sixty employers to participate in the events, representing approximately two hundred and twenty-five open positions. The events drew over two thousand job seekers and were featured in the local news. The Smart Center contacted each business for feedback and customer satisfaction. The employers were happy with the quality of the job seekers and would be willing to participate in future job fairs. Many job seekers were interviewed and hired for temporary and permanent positions. Multiple WIA Adult and Youth clients were given interviews. As an example, one of the clients was hired as seasonal help with Hickory Farms. Because he had attended the Smart Center’s workshop series and understood the power of networking, he was able to network with the Mt. Shasta Mall staff to be hired on full-time as a maintenance worker. As an added bonus, the Mall’s traffic was increased by 14.8% and benefited our local economy.

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