The Job Fair (or unfair) at Harrah's

Today I attended a job fair that solidified that desperation knows no boundary. There were  roughly 3000 people that were supposed to have registered for the job fair. In two hours, I saw every kind of person from every walk of life; standing in line I heard countless stories of struggle that resonated with me, but moreover broke my heart. 

I've been in the business circuit for at least a decade, and I knew what today was going to look like: companies that paid a few hundred dollars for a booth at Harrah's Casino that had nothing more to offer than commission only sales jobs, or an opportunity to enroll (i.e. spend money we obviously don't have if we're in need of work) in post secondary education. Commission only sales jobs offer no salary, no benefits....not exactly what most of us are looking for. These jobs require you to eat/sleep/breathe the job, forsaking all other areas of your life, just for a sale. (Trust me, it happens. See the post from 1/9/13). My heart broke for the countless men and women I saw leaving angry and disheartened.

Today made me want to connect job seekers with employers in a very intentional way, but the question is where to start, and what does it look like.

If I could ask a favor of you: Solicit trustworthy opinions of people you know who are small business owners/managers/ HR personnel. Ask them how they would react to someone reaching out to them, asking them to, at the very least, inform me of potential openings, or at the most, participate in low key, quarterly, meet and greets over coffee at no cost.

I would appreciate any thoughts.