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Before the doors even opened on the job fair, hundreds of people were waiting in line to get in, most holding resumes and every one wanting to work.
Bridget Welch has one reason to be here: her four year old son.
"Everyday he asks me, mom do you have a job yet? It's okay mom, take me to Barnes and Noble, I won't ask you to buy me anything, so it's difficult," said Welch.
The hardship of finding work is a common denominator for the young who have never had a job and the experienced who never thought they would be without one.
"I've actually made job hunting trips to San Antonio, Houston, Beaumont, New Orleans, Alexandria, Louisiana," said a job applicant.
In San Jose where the unemployment rate is nearly 12 percent, Work2Future held a job fair that brought nealry 30 employers and dozens of other resources under one roof.
For the unemployed the waiting seems somewhat endless but at least here there are people at the end of the line with a possible job.
In addition to the expected seasonal work at FedEx and retail openings at Target, Solopower of San Jose is in a growth mode and finding the talent pool a goldmine.
"What we are seeing is a lot of interest from people with related industry experience like semiconductor experience which a lot of us like myself, have that kind of background," said Solopower Production Manager Matt Tarasuk.
A job fair like this gives you some sense of the competition in a recession that's lasted too long.
"It looks like it's slowly turning around getting a little bit of nibbles but not much," said job seeker Daniel Peredia.
For a little boy who isn't even in this crowd, it only takes one job.
"Every time these opportunities arise, I'm always hopeful put on my best game face and because you'll never know when that chance might come," said Welch.
Bridget and thousands of others figured a job fair at least improves the odds of success.
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