It draws more than 4,500 seekers of jobs, and representatives from more than 100 companies provide information about their organizations and discuss employment and other job opportunities with the mature workers.
The exhibitors include retail stores, banks, law firms, publishing houses, insurance companies, and agencies for temporary employment. In addition to the employer booths, the fair features a Resource and Employment Information Center staffed by experienced employment interviewers from the New York State Department of Labor, where the attendees receive listings of specific jobs offered by the exhibitors as well as many small businesses that do not have booths at the fair.
Fair-goers are also given in-depth employment interviews to discuss job openings at the various booths and job listings posted by the New York State Department of Labor.
Sixty-five-year-old Ed Selder, who attended a recent fair, says, "I went to the fair and was amazed at the variety of exhibitors and how many different skills and trades were covered." Asked "What can you do? What skills do you have?" Selder replied that he had said, “‘Using the phone.' I have had some 40 years of experience as a fund-raiser, and have used the phone quite a bit to raise money. I filled out an application that was screened by the very able people who worked there.
I was sent to an employer in my field. They needed someone for one campaign and they hired me. I have found that it was very fruitful for me to have gone there and Tm very grateful to them."
Workshops That Really Help, Attendees also have access to free workshops on such subjects as resume writing and job interviews, part-time and temporary job opportunities, job trends, networking, time management, employer perceptions of the overqualified mature labor force, and alternatives to retirement. There is even a workshop for bilingual Spanish/ English job seekers - the Busqueda de Empleo.
Sharon Perkins, Director of the Senior Employment Divisions of the New York City Department for the Aging that runs the job fairs, cites two reasons mature people want to work, “One is financial, they may not have financial security," she says. "The second reason is that some mature workers would like to develop other interests. Sometimes they want part-time jobs because they may be looking for second-career opportunities or they are trying something new. Perhaps for a number of years they have been in a particular type of profession. Now they want to change careers."
Frank Ross was more than willing to try something new and change careers. Ross, 67, spent 32 years in the brokerage business in New York City, the last 15 years in the back office of Merrill Lynch working with government securities. Then the company instituted a personnel reduction plan in an effort to thin its ranks and reduce expenses. "There was an option," says Ross, "retirement or taking the chance of being fired."
