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West Springfield Senior Center offers 50 and older job fair

Date: 6/5/2015

WEST SPRINGFIELD – After a successful first run last year, the West Springfield Senior Center will again host a 50 and older job fair. The fair is set to take place on June 18.

The job fair has about 20 vendors signed up so far, according to Laurie Cassidy, executive director of the West Springfield Senior Center. The companies range from banking and finance to retail and entertainment.

Cassidy said the idea for a job fair that targets this specific age group came about two years ago. She and Jim Leyden, deputy director, noticed more and more people coming into the center to work on resumes and to job hunt in the computer room.

“We were the first in this area to put together this unique fair and we attracted probably more than 500 people out to attend last year. It was really a blowout,” Cassidy said.

The job fair serves a wide array of people who are looking for employment. Leyden said people came last year that were unemployed, seeking a second job or trying to ease into retirement. No matter what the situation, they are welcome, he said.

Last year, about 10 percent of people who attended found work, with one person even being hired on the spot, Cassidy said.

The trouble for this demographic, both said, is that many have been in the same field or with the same company for a majority of their career. If that is the case, it can be difficult and intimidating to get out and search for a new job.

In addition to the job fair, the Senior Center will also host a pre-fair workshop to help with making a resume, interview tips and other pointers. The workshop will be on June 11.

While the overall mission of the job fair is to get people employed, it also helps bolster the confidence of those job-hunting, often for the first time in years.

“What I wanted people to see was that even though you’ve been with a company for a long time, you have transferable skill sets and a lot of that is at the core of what a lot of these companies are looking for,” Cassidy said. “A solid work ethic, they’re not going to be calling out on a Monday and a Friday. They’re going to be reporting to work. They’re going to be diligent, hard working employees.”

Along the way, the West Springfield Senior Center staff is hoping to show the community it is a welcoming place.

“People just felt that they could come in here. We’re warm, welcoming place. We offer a lot of different things than traditional centers,” Leyden said. “We always try to mix up our programming to be unique and different just to try to break those barriers, and I think that last year that’s what we did. We want to change that whole mindset of what a senior center is.”

While Cassidy said no other organization has recreated their idea for this type of job fair, she said it is the responsibility of area councils on aging to step up and anticipate the needs of those they serve.

“We are a safe zone, but more than that we are resourceful. The responsibility of any council on aging is to keep their finger on the pulse of what’s going on in our neighborhood, across the state, across the country and be able to take that information and to craft programs and services that are going to try and meet those needs,” she said.

The job fair is open to any person 50 years of age or older from any community and will run from 4 to 7 p.m. at the West Springfield Senior Center. Employers are still wanted for the event. If your business is interested in hosting a table at the job fair, contact Leyden at 495-1813.