Lack Of Jobs At Career Fair Surprises Some Attendees

CHARLOTTE, N.C.,None — A line stretched up and down the hallway of a south Charlotte hotel before the doors even opened for a Wednesday morning job fair.

There's still plenty of demand at job fairs in the area, but at many of the booths on Wednesday, Channel 9 found one thing missing: jobs.

"We're geared toward preparing individuals for future careers," said Linda Jones with New Horizons Learning Center. "We're not here to offer jobs."

Job seeker Latisha Walker said that's not what she was hoping for.

"There's a lot of training, I've noticed," she said. "Not too many people offering jobs. There are a few offering sales rep positions."

Eyewitness News did find two companies that said they had salaried jobs available on Wednesday: Aaron Rentals and Tire Kingdom.

"We're going to hire some people of out this thing," said Mike Morano with Tire Kingdom.

But Morano was in the minority. Most of the booths at the fair were for training classes or commission sales jobs.

"When it said it was a job fair, I was thinking it was offering just jobs, not training," said Michelle Hege, who is unemployed. "So I'm kind of shocked."

National Career Fairs, the Henderson, Nev.-based company that brought the career fair to Charlotte, has an F rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Bob Hillman is the father-in-law of the company's owner, but he had little to say about the rating.

"I have no idea about that," Hillman said. "You'd have to talk to the company president."

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WSOC