On Tuesday, several officials joined Senator David Carlucci (D-Rockland/Orange) to kick off Rockland County’s largest job fair at Rockland Community College.
Almost 60 businesses set up a booth for the hundreds of job seekers that came through the doors throughout the day.
Participating companies represented various sectors, including small mom & pop shops, financial services, banking, utilities, healthcare, military, telecommunications and more.
“This is one of the largest job fairs we’ve had in Rockland County in a long time,” said Carlucci, who is a RCC graduate. “We are here today to put together as many employers under one roof, to get people looking around at the different opportunities available to them and work together to find results and find them a job.”
“Part of our mission is economic development. What I would say to all the folks here today who are looking for jobs, that if you’ve been associated with RCC as a student or are thinking you might be a student, our career services is here to help you and you don’t have to wait for a job fair,” said Dr. Cliff L. Wood, President of Rockland Community College.
Business representatives will also speak about the importance of job fairs in an effort to boost local hiring and grow their payroll.
“Being a recent university graduate, I cannot stress enough the importance of job fairs for your future career. Whether you land a small internship or a even a full time position, each experience will help you grow to your full potential,” said Sarah Rayburn of Vcorp Services, LLC.
“As one of 39 independent living centers in NY State, Rockland is very proud to be the only one to serve cross disabilities,” said Andy Kohlbrenner of Rockland Independent Living Center. “Part of our charge is to support people in bridging the gap to (economic) independence.”
Max Crisp of American Burrito in New City said that he came to the job fair to find employees to join an upstart capital and help represent the company.
Brett Caminez owns Caminez Chiropractic in West Nyack said that despite the unemployment rate, he struggles to find quality employees to join his company.
“We have a variety of schools and foster care so there are many different types of jobs available at St. Dominic’s Home,” said Judi Kydon, executive director of St. Dominic’s Home, a non profit agency that has been around for 135 years. It offers special education services to Rockland and Orange counties and the Bronx.
“The employment situation in the U.S. is actually getting better,” said Irene Deutsch, Director of Career Services of SUNY Rockland Community College. “Today’s job fair is just step one in what will be an ongoing opening of job opportunities for the residents of Rockland County.”
Stanley Jacoby, Executive Director of the Workforce Investment Board of Rockland, added that this job fair is the second prong of a 2-step approach.
Last week, RCC had a Job Readiness Fair, which provided information and job search awareness training. It was a pilot program, which will now be an annual program due to its success.
Senator Carlucci announced what Rockland County will receive as a result of the recent New York State budget agreement, such as funding for economic development, tax relief for small businesses, and an increase in community college aid.
“We’ve also done some great things for small businesses. We’ve appealed the job-killing MTA payroll tax, so businesses won’t have to pay (this tax). They can invest in new employees instead,” said Carlucci. “We’ve also done something called on-bill financing … which will help the environment and the economy by putting small local contractors to work retro-fitting many of the homes in Rockland County.”
