State’s largest job fair attracts fewer applicants as island economy improves

There were more employers competing for a shrinking pool of job seekers Tuesday at the state’s largest job fair.

The 161 companies and government agencies that manned booths at the Job Quest job fair was up from 150 that turned out for the same event a year ago. The job fair drew 3,400 job seekers, down from 3,500 in January 2013.

The numbers reflect a continuing shift in the labor market to one where job seekers are gaining leverage as a result of the strengthening economy.

"We’re in a hiring boom," said Laura Iaea-Behic, a recruiter for the property management firm Island Palm Communities, which is looking to fill 50 positions by July.

The company, a subsidiary of housing developer Lend Lease, has recruited at previous job fairs, but the 50 jobs is the most it has ever had to fill at one time, she said. The company has tried unsuccessfully to hire a field supervisor for six months, according to Iaea-Behic.

"We’ve gotten a lot of applicants but they either don’t have the management experience or the technical experience we’re looking for," she said.

Wednesday’s job fair is one of three put on annually at the Neal Blaisdell Center by Success Advertising. The other two, held in May and September, typically draw more employers than the January event.

Tuesday’s job fair attracted an unusually high number of employers who had never participated in the event in the past, said Beth Busch, president of Success Advertising. Those included Kualoa Ranch, Food Flying Group, Rengo Packaging, Cam Security and the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation.

Kualoa Ranch is hiring for more than a dozen different positions, including zip line operations supervisor, tour driver, horseback trail guide and aquaculture laborer, said Elana Chong, the ranch’s human resources and training manager.

The competition for qualified workers has been heating up as the jobless rate has declined, Busch said. The unemployment rate for Honolulu was 3.8 percent in December, a full percentage point lower than in December 2012.

"As far as people who are out of work, there aren’t as many," Busch said. "That means the attendance of employers is up because they are having trouble filling positions."

The job fair attracts many people who have been out of work for an extended period because they lack the skills needed for new positions being created in the economy, Busch added.

"A lot of the jobs that we lost during the recession are just not coming back. It’s not going to happen. Those people have five, 10 more years before they can retire. They’ve got to find something new to do," she said.

That’s one of the reasons the job fair organizers set aside an area for representatives from the University of Hawaii community colleges to provide information about training programs. The schools recently received a $24.6 million federal grant to help workers upgrade their job skills and find positions in the fields of energy, health care and agriculture.

"We try to understand what the employer needs are and integrate those things into our curriculum," said Scott Murakami, vice president of workforce development for the community college system.

The latest grant is part of $42 million in federal grants the state has been awarded over the past three years for such programs.

"The trick for us is how do you do this quickly. We’ve been able to form industry work groups where UH community college personnel interact with industry and find out what they are looking for," Murakami said.