APAH hosted its second annual Job Fair on Tuesday August 6^th at The Springs. The job fair was open to APAH residents and to the community at-large. Employers from Arlington, DC, and the surrounding area were invited to participate.  Employers were also given space to conduct interviews. About 100 job seekers attended the fair, about half of whom were APAH residents.

Prior to the job fair, participants were able to attend two preparatory workshops conducted by Edu-Futuro to prepare. The first workshop covered job research, resume and cover letter writing, and interview tips. The second workshop conducted hands-on, one-on-one resume and cover letter editing and mock interviews to give participants practice.

The fair had 24 employers from several industries, including food service, language interpretation, hospitality, cyber security, information technology, logistics, project & program management, US Census, property management, older adult services, clothing retail, grocery retail, health club management, job training and personal development programs, among many others.

APAH residents were pleased with the fair, and seven are working with the Resident Services Team to prepare for interviews and follow-up. One APAH resident said that she was very grateful for the fair. After working as a nanny for 20 years, she was having a very hard time finding a new job. She was excited to connect with the National Council on Aging will be working with them to find employment. Another resident was very happy to have a variety of employers in attendance and she left her resume with the ones that were of interest to her. She practiced her skills learned at the advanced workshops and sent an email thank-you note to some of the recruiters.

A non-APAH resident came from an hour away to attend this job fair after learning about it from his sister who lives in Arlington. He felt like it was fate because that day his painting job was cancelled.

APAH received very positive feedback from both employers and candidates. Many employers have already expressed interest in being part of next year’s job fair. And, word spread quickly, APAH’s received calls from employers that did not participate this year expressing interest to join it next year.