The 2022 Nursing, EMS and Fire virtual job fair, held on April 26, hosted over 100 students and alumni in a three-hour event. Melina Rodriguez, the program coordinator for the LMC Workforce and Economic Development department, hosted the event and assisted all participants in what their next step was. 

The job fair included scouts from Brightstar Care, CAL FIRE, San Francisco Fire Department, St. Vincent de Paul, Tice Valley Manor Care and Visiting Angels. The job fair was set up in a way where you could talk to the recruitment agents in individual breakout rooms on Zoom. Rodriguez monitored the Zoom and helped people get from room to room. 

In the past, the Workforce and Economic Development department hosted an in-person job fair that took place in the LMC gymnasium. It used to be in the music recital hall but every year the number of participants kept growing and so they needed more space to host the event. Rodriguez is very passionate about the work being done and how the job fair has progressed.

“We’ve been hosting these job fairs I would say for anywhere between the last eight to ten years, we usually post two job fairs a year and they always happened in the spring semester,” said Rodriguez. “Even before COVID, we were here to help our community get back into the workforce but it’s more credible now than it’s ever been because of so much job loss. LMC as a whole, but really here in our workforce and economic development department, we are really focused on brightening our futures and giving our communities the best opportunities they can get.” 

After it turned virtual, registration for the job fair increased. In 2020, there were about 80 people registered and it has only accumulated more attendees. 

Elena Villegas, a workforce planning and recruitment specialist for CAL FIRE, spoke about the different opportunities that are being presented right now at CAL FIRE. 

“We’re really unique being a state fire department. It’s really different from working for a city or county department because you get the benefits of working with the state while also being a firefighter.”

Villegas also gave advice to aspiring firefighters and gave some tips on how to stand out during the application process. 

“If you’re interested in firefighter 1, our hiring is from November 1 to November 30 of every year. If you want to be a more competitive candidate, go to our CAL FIRE careers webpage and look at what our acceptable documents are for training to make you a more competitive candidate.” 

The next job fair will be held later this year and will involve job opportunities for different majors.