The Peninsula Job Center’s annual Job Fair will return to the Old Carrs Mall next week, running from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10.

Jason Warfle, Job Center supervisor, said Monday that the annual fair is an opportunity for job seekers to get face-to-face with potential employers and training providers. Roughly 50 different organizations are expected to attend. The event is entirely free and open to the public.

Many industries and jobs will be represented, including oil and gas, health care, fish processing, transportation, hospitality, and others.

The fair, Warfle said, gets people in front of people — job seekers can have a conversation, ask questions and leave their resume. It’s a “shortcut” in the application process that bridges the gap between employers and job seekers — where people can explore a variety of jobs and ask questions.

The job center regularly hears from attending employers, Warfle said, who report being able to make those connections, set up interviews, and make hires. Attendees aren’t left wondering if anyone ever saw their application.

Sara Bieber, Gulf Coast regional manager for the State Department of Labor and Workforce Development, said that in addition to employers there are a variety of services, resources, and training providers available at the fair.

Those resources are available, she said, to help people take “the next step.” There are options and opportunities for training, coaching, funding. They can help people with their resumes, conduct mock interviews, even provide education or administer testing.

“We help people overcome a lot of challenges when it comes to interviewing, or job search, or career,” Warfle said. “Take a step in the right direction, that’s going to work for them,” Warfle said.

Those options and resources are available at the job center every day, and the fair is a chance to get people through the door — to become familiar with a resource that is available to them.

Those resources and guidance are available, and Warfle said the job center staff can help connect people with those systems and programs — even if they come in the door unsure of what their next steps should be.

“Be ready for anything,” Warfle said. “We have a really good variety of employers and training providers that are going to be there.”

That means dress presentably, bring a few copies of a resume, and look to make connections with people.

“We want somebody leaving better off than when they came in,” Bieber said.

For more information, visit jobs.alaska.gov/jobfairs or call 907-335-3010.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.

A visitor to the 2023 Kenai Peninsula Job and Career Fair speaks to representatives of Paradisos Restaurant on Thursday, April 6, 2023 at the Old Carrs Mall in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)