Long Lines and a Ray of Hope More Than 3,700 People Descended upon 92 Employers at a New York Job Fair. Some Were Happy Just to Talk to a Recruiter Face-to-Face. NEW YORK-Howard La waited 90 minutes in line for the chance to spend three minutes with a recruiter from Charles Schwab.
La, who lost his human resources job at Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs in November, had prepared his spiel. The Hoboken, New Jersey, resident told the recruiter how he could help reevaluate the brokerage's call centers to be more efficient. He walked away upbeat, with the
promise that his résumé would be reviewed.
"It was worth the hour-and-a-half wait to speak with him," said La, 26. "He said he'll pass my résumé to his manager and he sounded genuine." La was among the 3,700 people who packed a midtown Manhattan hotel ballroom Thursday for a chance to meet with representatives from more than 90 companies at a job fair put on.
According to the News on page 663, what was the situation in the 2009 NYC labor market?