Hawaii companies are finding it harder to hire quality candidates with the state unemployment rate hovering around a seven-year low of 4 percent.

But they were encouraged Tuesday by the quality of job seekers attending Career Expo 2015 at the Neal Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, First Hawaiian Bank and ALTRES Staffing were the title sponsors of the event.

“My first applicant that walked up today, I wanted to hire her already,” said Carol Ono, senior vice president and talent acquisition manager of First Hawaiian’s human resources division. “Other job fairs we’ve been at, we’ll get hundreds of applicants and maybe hire 10 percent. We had around 200 job seekers today that came to visit our table. In the past it’s been about 100, so we doubled our interest in people who came to our booth.”

There were more than 130 companies at the Career Expo, and the jobs appeared plentiful. First Hawaiian had 150 openings for corporate/administrative positions and branch positions, including tellers and customer service. ALTRES Staffing, which has professional, industrial, technical and medical divisions, was looking to hire about 250 people for its clients as well as in-house operations. And Victoria’s Secret, a first-timer at the Career Expo, had 95 openings spread nearly evenly among its Pearlridge, Ala Moana and Waikiki locations.

“This is the tightest market that we’ve ever been in,” said Lynn Hiyane, clerical and technical personnel staffing manager for ALTRES. “We pre-qualify them before we send them out to a client. Within 24 hours, if they’re good, they’re gone. They’re getting multiple interviews, they’re getting multiple offers and sometimes people will start a job and then end up leaving because other companies are calling. So it’s really hard to find a good candidate.”

Some of the job seekers were just starting out after graduating from college, while others, such as Marc Reese from Kapolei, were seeking a career change after serving in the Air Force for 26 years.

“I’m looking for new opportunities and new challenges,” said Reese, 50, who retired last summer. “I’m looking for a new opportunity where I can continue to give back, continue to serve and hopefully can solve challenges with a new team. Operations and finance are the two areas I’m looking at right now.”

Christa Jacinto, 35, of Aiea was perusing job postings in a special room set aside for those with management experience.

“I’ve had a lot of different experience with management positions — everything from portrait studios all the way up to operations for a deli and cafe,” she said. “I’m looking for something that would fine-tune my skill sets and talents. I’m certainly looking for something stable and secure and something I could passionately put myself into.”

The broad spectrum of jobs left recent college graduates Iris Ono and Chase Sakai feeling hopeful.

Ono, 31, of Diamond Head, is getting a belated start on a new career after quitting school in 2006 to sign with a modeling agency in New York. She just graduated from Hawaii Pacific University with a bachelor’s in nursing and recently passed her National Council Licensure Examination to become a registered nurse.

“I moved back here after New York and worked as an office manager because I had my son,” said Ono, wearing a blue, sparkly blouse with black slacks. “Then I went back to school and finished my nursing degree.”

Ono, after dropping off an application at the Nursefinders booth, said she’s looking for opportunities or any openings to get her foot in the door.

”It’s something I’ve been interested in,” she said. “My mom is an RN.”

Sakai, 21, of Hawaii Kai, said he came to the Career Expo because of the diversity of the companies and industries that were listed in the newspaper.

“That really piqued my interest,” said Sakai, who just graduated from the University of San Diego with a major in finance. “You get to meet all of them face to face. That was a big plus to me.”

Sakai, who said he wanted to dress to impress, was wearing a blue dress shirt, yellow tie and navy blue suit jacket.

“That’s the No. 1 step,” he said. “You’ve got to look good.”

He said one of the challenges he was facing was his lack of work experience.

“For me as a recent college graduate, I find it a little hard because a lot of places I’ve interviewed with, they’ve wanted previous experience,” said Sakai, who is looking for a job in the financial services or insurance industry. “I’ve worked before, but I haven’t in, say, the financial industry before. I’ve just got to keep searching, and someone’s got to open the door for me. I’ve got to interview well and get as many resumes out there as possible.”

Hiyane, the ALTRES executive, said now is the best time for college graduates to land a job as long as they are realistic.

“It’s the best time for them to be looking because the unemployment (rate) is so low,” she said. “But they also have to be realistic. A lot of the college graduates are coming without the office experience. But if they’re flexible and they have computer skills, then they have a very good chance. Some of them coming into the market are expecting $45,000, and those are the ones that are not going to have the easiest time. But if they’re flexible, they’re eager, they show a really good attitude and they’re in the right salary range, they have a very good chance.”

Patrick Klein, director of advertising for the Star-Advertiser, said the types of employers that the expo attracted likely contributed to the large turnout of job candidates.

“We really focused on getting good-quality companies here,” he said. “With the jobless rate so low here in Hawaii, it’s just a testament to the crowd that we have here. Those companies brought in quality job seekers. The younger demographics like Abercrombie & Fitch and Victoria’s Secret all the way up to First Hawaiian Bank and ALTRES, and everybody in between like Times Supermarkets, it’s a really great mix represented in this Career Expo.”