Crowds packed into the Army Reserve Center and cycled through the aisles of employers to find employment opportunities during a job fair Oct. 7 Photo by Charmain Z. Brackett The aisles in the Fort Gordon Army Reserve Center's main conference room were jammed with people seeking information about employment opportunities at local businesses.

"I'm surprised at the amount of people here," said Eddie Ferguson, transit ser- vice manager for Fort Gordon's Army Career and Alumni Program and coordinator of the Job Fair, who estimated more than 1,000 people attended the fair in the first two hours.

Job fairs are held twice a year at Fort Gordon - one on the first Tuesday in May and the other on the first Tuesday in October.

More than 70 employers such as Home Depot, Lockheed Martin, Shaw Industries, T-Mobile, the Secret Service and several police departments took part in the fair.

"We don't invite employers to come to collect resumes. They have to be actively hiring," Ferguson said.

The fair was open to the military and civilian communities.

Luis Ramos, who works as a substitute teacher and is considering joining the Air Force, was one of the civilians taking part in the fair.

"They have a great variety of employers. It's a little crowded, but it's great," he said.

Some employers were taking resumes at the fair while others were suggesting applicants visit the company's websites.

Employers said the job fair is a good place to find qualified applicants especially technically trained military such as Signal Soldiers and military intelligence.

Teresa Seebode, director of operations for Peak Employment Services, said her company has been part of the job fairs for three years. Not only do they focus on Soldiers separating from the military, but they work with military spouses and teen dependents.

"We don't have a problem helping military Families," she said.

In addition to ACAP, the Georgia Department of Labor and Army Community Service helped sponsor the event.

Kathryn Palmer, with ACS, said she was hoping to recruit corporate members to the Army Spouse Employment Partnership. Palmer works with businesses in this partnership to help provide a quality labor pool for the companies to choose from.