A number of residents looking for work stopped by the Micronesia Mall over the weekend for a job fair hosted by Goodwind Development Corp., which was conducting interviews on the spot to beef up the pool of potential hires for the various companies under its corporate umbrella.
The event drew job seekers including Danielle Espinosa, who told The Guam Daily Post she has been searching for employment since November.
It’s "very difficult knowing they have qualifications, but sometimes I'm overqualified or they’re not hiring at the moment,” she said of the challenges she has faced in her search for a job.
Espinosa attended the job fair Sunday, particularly interested in employment opportunities with Philippine Airlines.
“I want to know more about the tourist industry, travel and graphic design as an interest,” she said, adding she hoped the visit to the fair would bring her employment.
In addition to Philippine Airlines, other participating employers included Goodwind Travel and Tour Corp. Inc., American Bakery, Goodwind Development Corp., Guam Beachfront Residences and the Micronesia Mall.
According to organizers, the pool of businesses worked well to draw out a good number of job seekers for the weekend job fair.
“There was a steady flow of people coming in, but it wasn’t overly crowded,” Micronesia Mall marketing manager Lisa Bordallo, who was on-site meeting potential hires, told the Post. “All of us were looking for employees all at the same time. Because there were so many openings, it only made sense to have a job fair, where we can meet with applicants (and) widen pools. We wanted to take advantage of the traffic at the mall and have people come through and get a variety of applicants for all companies. That’s why we wanted to have the job fair."
'Looking to grow'
She told the Post that the common need to expand the pool of applicants across all Goodwind companies prompted the event, which helped the companies connect with other job seekers.
“We noticed that all of our needs are growing because our companies are growing. We are trying to beef up our departments and, as business grows, we need to plan and staff efficiently,” Bordallo said.
Bordallo was at the job fair the past two days conducting on-the-spot interviews with potential employees to fill vacancies within her department at the Micronesia Mall.
“In my marketing department, the positions are specific. So we look for somebody who has experience in that department. They don’t have to be a veteran, but we are looking for somebody who has the skills, who has talent and somebody who is willing to grow with the company and help the company grow. All of Goodwind, with new management and the company - we are looking to grow and we are looking for key members to grow."
This was the first Goodwind Development Corp. job fair she has participated in.
"I haven’t been here long, but since I have, this is the first job fair and I think this is the first job fair for our new management team,” she said, referring to the new leadership at Goodwind Development Corp., which was announced in May 2022.
She said the experience helped her learn how to improve the next planned job fairs for a higher yield in applicants.
“I think, in the future, me personally, I would push it out to the center court, the difficulty this time around is that we have our Mes CHamoru, Easter train and Easter Bunny pictures, so there’s a lot going on at center court. So we had the job fair in one of our main spaces and it's just better foot traffic in center court,” she said.
The change in location, Bordallo said, will expand awareness of available jobs and will help companies "better capture an even larger market."
