'Now hiring' signs appear at job fairs

Now that we know the recession officially ended in June 2009 — if there is no double-dip — maybe there will be a little more confidence among companies that want to restock their working ranks.

That's becoming evident among firms who were previously going through the motions at job fairs in recent years.

The St. Petersburg Times reports that at least 2,500 participants at its Sept. 20 job and career fair at the Coliseum saw a few “now hiring” signs crop up at various company booths. Most of those booths in recent years were simply taking online applications from unemployed prospects in the event anything actually came up, and that's if anyone even bothered to staff them after being booked months in advance.

Amid the 12%-plus unemployment rate on the Gulf Coast, job seekers are still struggling to find anything suitable that compared with what they were doing before downsizing.

No one seemed to be hiring, aside from life insurance and annuity companies that always seem to be on the lookout for anyone considering a career change.

Now that the “now hiring” signs are coming back, whether at job fairs or in store fronts, businesses will hopefully have better luck finding the right person for the position. It doesn't seem all that long ago that business owners were complaining about that, back when the local jobless rate was around only 3%.