Island Air employee Dior Andrade broke down and cried last month when the news broke the company was shutting down.

She had worked for Island Air for 17 years in maintenance administration and as an aircraft parts purchaser and repair specialist.

Now, nearly a month later, Andrade is one of the former workers collecting an unemployment check. She also was one of 80 former employees looking for opportunities and information at a job and resource fair held Tuesday at Dillingham Shopping Plaza.

“It was really shocking,” said Andrade, 36, in recalling the moment on Nov. 10 when she found out she no longer had a job. “We were at work and a co-worker told me, ‘Check your email,’ and I just started crying out in tears because I didn’t know what to do. Island Air was actually the only thing that I knew. That was the only company I knew.”

Andrade, one of 423 employees laid off, is now looking to expand her horizons as she considers her options.

“I’ve been with Island Air for so long that maybe it’s just time for me to change my career,” she said. “I’m looking mainly for administration or receptionist — anything that’s out there.”

Twenty representatives from various businesses were at the fair to recruit for about 250 openings. There also was a resources center where information could be found on child care services, financial assistance, unemployment insurance, Med-QUEST and attending community college. There was general counseling available for people coping with unemployment.

The fair was put on by the Oahu Workforce Development Board and the Department of Community Services American Job Center Hawaii.

Andrade said she has received one unemployment check so far with another one due this week. But she’s worried.

“It’s about one-third of my pay, so it’s really a difficult situation because you have bills and rent that has to be paid,” she said.

Steven Obara, 60, had worked for five years as an aircraft fueler and said he didn’t find out about the shutdown until he saw it on the television news on that final day.

“It’s been very hard because unemployment has cut way more than half of my paycheck and I have a 5-year-old daughter,” he said. “Right now, I’m trying to go into the hotel business, cooking or warehouse. I’ve put in resumes but never got no response yet.”

Raenae Rogers, a ramp agent for six months, said the closure has been “upsetting.”

“It’s hard to find jobs right now,” she said. “I’m actually looking for the higher pay, but we need that experience to get that higher pay. I’m looking for either hotel or warehouse.”

Hawaii State Federal Credit Union, one of the employers at the fair, has seven teller openings as well as openings for loan officers and loan service positions.

“We’re just looking to try to help anybody who wants to get into financial,” said Chris Canubida of the company’s human resources department. “If they’ve worked with cash, they can definitely be tellers; call centers, they talk to people; loan officers, they can definitely do that because they’re also interacting with people face to face. Those are the three we can mostly help them with.”

Richard Schuman, president of Schuman Aviation, which includes Makani Kai Air, said the company is looking for pilots, mechanics, reservations agents and ground coordinators.

“Starting next year we’ll probably have close to a dozen openings because we’re growing at a very nice pace,” he said. “We have up to 17 round-trip flights between Honolulu and Molokai, and I’m adding another plane to Maui so that will be up to to 12 round trips between Maui and Molokai. My focus has always been Molokai. That market is growing. We’re going to get to a saturation point, but we’re not quite yet finished with Molokai.”