Thousands take part in career fair

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Indiana lost 15,000 jobs in May and the unemployment rate climbed to 10.6%; twice the rate it was in May of 2008.

So, Mayor Greg Ballard in cooperation with the Indianapolis Private Industry Council and Indianapolis Economic Development Incorporated hosted a job fair at Lucas Oil Stadium.

More than 3700 Hoosiers pre-registered and many more registered on site; all vying for one of the 1150 jobs available.

Lee Coone attended the job fair in hopes of landing a job. He is 50 years old and has 20 years of information technology experience.

A total of 55 businesses participated in the job fair. Brightpoint is just one of the companies Coone spoke with and he’s hoping he’ll be employed soon.

"It gives us a good idea of what's out there in the community and hopefully we can fill some of the spots that we need filled now," said Pam McClellan of Brightpoint.

The cell phone service and logistics provider currently has 31 openings. But Coone has plenty of competition.

"It's kind of tough out there. I mean there are jobs to be had. There are always postings out there, but there are a lot of people looking," said Coone.

And many of those looking are like Coone, older with years of experience. In fact, of those who pre-registered the largest group is 45 and older.

So, is Coone worried about competing with younger, less experienced, lower paid talent?

"That's always a fear. But you have to hope that you can find the employer who's looking for the person who can walk in the door and hit the ground running," said Coone.

That's his hope. Younger job seekers just want the chance to prove themselves.

Angela Strahan graduated in May with a degree in psychology and left the event with two job prospects. She said it was definitely time well spent.

The job fair was from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. and more than 6,000 attended. Organizers said some business representatives conducted interviews and hired on site.