Airport-wide hiring day sees nearly 900 attendees
Tampa International Airport’s first Airport-wide hiring day had something that had been missing from previous efforts: A line of applicants.
By 9 a.m., when the fair was set to open, a line of jobseekers had gathered outside the event space, curling 50 deep into the Main Terminal. With more than 33 different companies seeking to hire hundreds of positions, including a variety of managerial roles and opportunities with airlines, this was not your typical job fair.
Overall, the job fair served nearly 900 applicants – 877, to be exact.
Not only did people show up, they got offered jobs. Companies in attendance extended hundreds of job offers and many were hired on the spot. More are expected to be hired in the coming weeks.
“I’m blown away,” said Fox Rent A Car General Manager Terry Gibson. “Look at this turnout. I really got to digest it.”
Gibson said Fox, alone, had received 25 to 30 applications within a few hours of the start of the job fair, seeking to hire several frontline workers.
“We’re going to be ramping up in a couple of weeks and now I’m allowed to build a bench and gear up for that,” he said.
The Aug. 25 job fair went, which went from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., is the fourth job fair so far this year hosted by Tampa International Airport. Previous job fairs, however, have been smaller and focused around filling positions for the Airport’s 70 shops, restaurants and spas. This was the first to include all tenants at TPA.
“We’re shocked by the turnout,” said Samantha Lambert, with Bags Inc.
Lambert noted that the company had received 24 applicants for about four or five different positions.
“We’ve met a lot of interesting people we’re excited about,” she said.
Over at Menzies Aviation, which handles ground handling operations for several TPA airlines, the company had already filled all of its available positions mid-way through the afternoon.
“Very successful,” said Angel Flores, a talent acquisition specialist for the company. “It was a complete success for us.”