By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Hopeful security guards, secretaries, childcare providers, maintenance workers and retail clerks flooded Washington Heights Thursday for a chance to meet with potential employers at the neighborhood's first annual job fair.
Many said they knew they were not alone in looking for work, but were shocked to see a seemingly endless line that snaked around the block-long theater that stands between Broadway and Wadsworth Avenue, between West 175 and West 176th streets.
Washington Heights resident Elisabeth Rodriguez, 43, said she has been looking for work since she lost her job as an assistant in a real estate office seven months ago.
"We were all laid off," she said, explaining that she had taken the admin position as a step up from her previous job as a nursing assistant, but was let go with several other staff members after only three months.
Andy, a 48-year-old Brooklyn man who asked that his last name not be used because of his criminal past, said he has been trying to find work since he was released from jail five months ago. Despite eleven years of work in the food service industry, his job search has not yielded any opportunities.
"I’ve never seen the crowds so big," he said from his spot toward the back of the line. "I’ve been sent to job fairs before and always got in...Next time I’ll be earlier."
The turn-out should be of little surprise to many living in Upper Manhattan, where the official unemployment rate is 14 percent, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute. That's higher than any other neighborhood in Manhattan, and the second highest in all of New York City, after East New York in Brooklyn.
The fair ran from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., but by 12:30 p.m. it was already clear that many people on line outside would not have a chance to talk to an employer.
Organizers, which included the local nonprofit Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation (NMIC) and the United Palace - Christ Community United Church scrambled to extend the hours of the fair, but many employers could not stay longer.
People still waiting on line were asked to apply for jobs online or hand in paper copies of their resumes so that organizers could hand them off to employers inside.
Minister Gilbert James of the Christ Community United Church said he was not surprised by the amount of attendees.
"People in this community need jobs, a lot of families from here with children don’t have enough money to feed them," he said. "We’re connecting the corporate world to the community. People came here for jobs and you can bet the businesses didn’t come here to play games."
Washington Heights native Rublensky Caraballo, 25, attended the fair with a friend who is a pre-med student looking for seasonal work.
"It pretty scary how many people are looking," Caraballo said. "Especially for the youth in this neighborhood, if they don’t have some sort of job it increases their risk of being involved in crime and violence. Finding work is really important for them."
Despite the long line, Caraballo said she was hopeful she could find work one year after she was laid off from an administrative job.
"It’s hard with the economy the way it is, but at least it brings people and the community together," she said. "It unifies us. It’s good to know we are not alone."
