About 15,000 job-seekers - double the usual number - flooded a career expo in Glendale on Wednesday at the same time that the number of prospective employers attending shrank.
Long lines formed outside University of Phoenix Stadium two hours before the 2 p.m. start of the career expo hosted by Valley-based job-finding company Jobing.com.
"I was blown away," said Theresa Maher, the company's director of public and job-seeker relations.
The expos are held quarterly, with the last one in October drawing about 7,500 job-seekers. At its peak more than a year ago, as many as 375 employers would attend to fill positions for industries as diverse as airlines, banking and civil service.
This time, 150 companies offered more than 500 jobs, Maher estimated. Positions ranged from hourly work in retail to a chief financial officer position at a credit union.
Lines were filled with seekers of almost every age and demographic, the faces behind the Valley's 6.9 percent unemployment rate.
Some wore jeans; many showed up in suits and ties.
They were people like Gary Sachs, 53, a 30-year project manager with a Valley automation firm. The Anthem resident, recently laid off, finds himself brushing up on what today's resumes should look like and how to get beyond the "black hole" of submitting applications online.
Sachs, a college graduate, remains optimistic that face time provided at the expo could help. "I know if I could just talk to someone, I'd get a job," he said.
The stories ran the gamut of personal experience in this recession. A college student sought work to cover her living expenses. A mother, who had to quit a medical-office job because of her son's health five months ago, said she never imagined re-entering the workforce would be so tough.
Others came to the Valley, hoping it was better than other parts of the country.
Justin Gibson moved to the Phoenix two weeks ago after he was laid off from a retail job in Lincoln, Neb. He enrolled in a technical school and hopes to land "any" job, on one condition: "As long as it pays $10 an hour or better."
Many job seekers represented the hard-hit housing industry.
Phoenix resident Matt Hallquist, 48, made $23 per hour as a construction worker until the company he worked for closed in 2007. He landed another job for $5-per-hour less, but that company closed too, about a month ago.
Dressed in a tie, Hallquist surveyed his possibilities.
"I'm looking for anything, because residential construction is pretty much done," he said.
Maher, with Jobing.com, advised job seekers that it was not uncommon for the hunt to take two to three months.
She advised them to keep a positive attitude and prepare by researching companies and customizing cover letters to sell yourself to a specific company.
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