PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With a new location, 1Berkshire grew its annual career fair this year.

 

The fair was traditionally held at the Berkshire Hills Country Club, which limited the number of employers to around 50.

 

Berkshire Community College has since offered up the Paterson Field House for it and on Wednesday some 80 employers were able to set up tables for the event.

 

"BCC approached us and asked if it was something we'd be open to doing. This is a perfect thing for us to work on together," said 1Berkshire Program and Event Specialist Danielle Thomas. 

 

Even with the additional space, Thomas said the organization still had to turn some employers away. Companies set up tables throughout the space and job seekers were able to browse through the available jobs. 

 

"The diversity of industry here is great for people looking for jobs as well as diverse geography," Thomas said. 

 

As of 2 p.m., the organizers didn't have an estimate on exactly how many job seekers attended. But Thomas said the fair typically draws about 250 people. This traffic levels seemed to eclipse that number, she said, with an increase in college students. With the move, the organization also asked employers to provide information on internships for students as well.

 

Thomas said the biggest rush of job seekers came right when the doors opened around 10 and traffic was steady until noon. It slowed down in the afternoon but when another round of classes let out around 2, Thomas expected to see yet another boost in traffic. 

 

This is also the first year the organization ran the fair under the 1Berkshire umbrella. The event was previously headed by the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce and last May it was merged into 1Berkshire, a combination of the chamber, Berkshire Creative and the Berkshire Visitor's Bureau.

 

"It is also the effort of 1Berkshire with us merging we were able to reach different businesses," Thomas said.

 

Using resources from the other former organizations, 1Berkshire's reach for finding new employers grew. Thomas said this year there were a number of businesses which never participated before joining, adding to the ones that traditionally participate every year. 

 

The organizers added one more feature this year. Tricia McCormack Photography was hand to take free professional headshots for the job seekers. 

 

The primary focus of the annual career fair is to help connect those seeking jobs or changes in work with the companies with vacancies. But, an additional bonus is that the company representatives get time to network with each other. 

 

The fair has its ebbs and flows with some years seeing huge numbers of job seekers - as high as 400 one year - and other years without so much. The same goes for employers.