Nearly 200 applicants attended the Pennsylvania CareerLink of Carbon County and the Carbon County Economic Development Corporation Community Services Networking Event and Job Fair within the first three hours when the event was held Thursday at Jim Thorpe Memorial Hall.

Employers attending were, KME Fire Apparatus, Precision Roll Grinders, Tobyhanna Army Depot, Nestle-Purina Petcare, Blue Mountain Health, Pencor Services, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Lowe's Home Improvement Store, Milton Hershey School, PA State Civil Service Commission, Northampton Community College, One Source Staffing, PA Army National Guard. United States Army Reserves and Dollar Tree Distribution Center.Also making a presence were community service agencies, Pathstone Senior Employment Program, Human Resource Center, Unemployment Compensation, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Child Care Information Services, Prime Tech and PA CareerLink®.Mary Ellen Ogozalek, CareerLink specialist, said the jobs were open in the retail, government, private manufacturing, staffing services and health care, plus there were agencies involved.Curt Evans, program supervisors for CareerLink, said that all the employers had several jobs available."We contacted employers because we are trying to lower the unemployment rate," said Evans. "We have some jobs that are not main stream, such as Milton Hershey Schools looking for house parents."Evans said that they had expected about 200 applicants during the five hour event, but had nearly 200 within the first three hours, which showed that people in Carbon County are interested in finding a job."Our goal was to invite employers with valid job openings who were looking for job seekers," said Evans. "We wanted employers who were looking to hire and put people on board."