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Jamie Higa — back home after graduating from Loyola Marymount College in Los Angeles with a bachelor’s degree in biology — was among a steady stream of job seekers at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Career Expo 2018 Wednesday morning, all looking for new opportunities or careers.
“I’m looking for a lot of introductory level positions just to get experience, hopefully in the health care industry, like assistant or administrative work,” said Higa, 23, of Nuuanu, who came to the Neal Blaisdell Exhibition Hall dressed in a black pantsuit with her hair neatly tied in a bun.
Representatives from over 100 companies, agencies and organizations from the private sector as well as city, state and federal agencies provided information on job openings. Also sponsoring the Expo were ALTRES Staffing and Monster.
With Hawaii’s unemployment rate at 2.1 percent, companies are seeking assistance from employment agencies to recruit potential employees.
“It’s tough out there,” said staffing manager Katheryne Guillermo at the HiEmployment booth, adding the company partners with many businesses in the state.
Guillermo said Hi-Employment helps fill a range of positions, from accounting and administrative to industrial and hospitality.
“We’re looking to hire over 100 people (to work) next week Thursday and Friday for one of our bigger clients. It’s a big hospitality event so we’re looking for servers, bartenders … we’re always recruiting,” Guillermo said.
At the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Hawaii booth, Brandi Matsumoto, head of staffing and employment, said they are seeking to fill a range of positions — including engineers, architects, electricians and especially plumbers. “We are in desperate need of plumbers.”
The federal employer provides infrastructure support to the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Department of Defense and other federal agencies in the state, according to its website.
In the previous career expo, Matsumoto said they made over 30 on-the-spot, full-time job offers.
The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, which employs approximately 1,300 civilians, is now seeking to fill 80 positions and aimed to make up to 50 job offers at Wednesday’s expo.
Manager Emy Yamauchi-Wong of ALTRES Staffing said the company is looking to fill “hundreds” of positions in four different staffing categories: office professional, technical, medical and industrial. “Within each division, we have so many clients looking for qualified candidates,” she said.
She noted companies are looking for individuals who are flexible and willing to learn.
Yamauchi-Wong highly recommended that job-seekers keep in touch with recruiters. “Don’t be afraid to follow up,” she said
Heather Caral, 35, who just moved to Honolulu from Seattle six days ago, visited the ALTRES Staffing booth and chatted with representatives about positions in finance and banking.
She worked as a member outreach manager of the Navy Federal Credit Union in Seattle, where she and her Navy husband resided for three years before being reassigned to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
“In the Navy we learned to just go quickly and get the job done,” she said. “I’ve been married to my husband for 17 years. This is our sixth move so I kind of learned to just hit the ground running.”
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