Indiana Congressman Hosts Ninth Annual Job Fair

The ninth annual Central Indiana Job Fair featured more than 150 employers offering more than 4,400 positions Wednesday.

Ivy Tech Vice Chancellor, Lori Handy, says this year more employers give preference to veterans, bilingual candidates, and offer tuition benefits to prospective employees.

"So I think that with the unemployment rate so low now, employers are trying to entice people to come work with them with additional benefits," says Handy. 

Congressman Andre Carson (D-Ind.), who founded the event, says that number of employers has nearly doubled since it began in 2009.

"And it has been successful for the past 10 years. We’ve had people who have been hired on the spot, people who were hired from the first job fair who are still working for the same employer. It’s been fantastic," he says. 

Carson says he ran into a woman at the Indiana Black Expo who thanked him for hosting the job fair where she was hired for her job of seven years.

"And I was so moved because we’ve heard stories throughout the years of folks who have said, 'Hey, I went to your job fair and I was hired on the spot to work for Kroger, or for someone.' But to have someone who’s working for the airlines, and we know that the airline industry has struggled for the past few years, but who has expressed so much job satisfaction because of this opportunity; it reminds us why we do this kind of work," says Carson. 

Carson and Ivy Tech co-hosted the event.