Over 800 Attend Career Resource & Job Faiir

July 13, 2011... The Bergen One Stop Career Center joined forces with the Bergen County Workforce Investment Board, Bergen Community College, the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development and the North Media Group to sponsor a Career Resource & Job Fair at the College’s Paramus Campus on June 15, 2011. Over 800 participants visited tables representing forty eight local companies.

Firms invited to attend signed on with the condition that they had to have at least one job available, and had to stay the duration of the Fair. Industries included the fields of insurance, communications, finance, health, retail/hospitality, security and transportation. According to Greer Galgano, WIB Planning Specialist, three companies present are new to the area and recruited staff for new facilities.

REI, a sporting goods retail store that will open in Bergen Town Center in Paramus, is seeking to hire 80 employees with benefits. Positions include sales and customer service specialists, cashiers, bike and ski technicians/mechanics and shipping/receiving clerks. REI followed up by holding a Positive Recruitment at the One Stop two days later.

Another firm new to the area was Muller Insurance Services, which is seeking to hire 20 individuals for its new office in North Bergen. The company is headquartered in Buffalo, New York. Farmer’s Insurance was also present, seeking to hire for their new regional office in Parsippany.

Workshops on resume writing and media-related job search skills were also offered to prospective employers.

The Fair was preceded by a Business Symposium sponsored by the Workforce Investment Board called “Growing Your Business in Bergen.” Nearly two dozen business owners and leaders met with state labor and economic development officials. Tracye McDaniel, President of Choose New Jersey, said her firm has started an aggressive marketing campaign to draw businesses to the area. Affiliated with the Governor’s Office, Choose New Jersey aims to market, promote and expand business in the State. She described competition to land new businesses as fierce. Bergen County, along with the State, continues to lose jobs.

Aaron Fichtner, Assistant Commissioner of Labor Planning & Analysis at the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development said there were 37,000 unemployed residents in Bergen County in April 2011, compared to 16,000 in late 2007.