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September 9, 2009
Within four hours, more than 600 people applied for 22 jobs at a Palm Desert job fair Tuesday.
Bighorn Golf Club hosted the fair to accept applications for positions ranging from bartenders and housekeepers to massage therapists and fitness trainers.
“We saw some great candidates today, and we will be following up with them in the next few weeks,” said Norma Castaneda, the club's director of human resources.
Bighorn did not conduct interviews at the fair, but each person got to spend a few minutes talking with a staff member after handing in an application.
“We like to see them in person and find out what their personality is like,” Castaneda said.
Mike Walker of Palm Desert said he appreciated the face-to-face contact.
“This is the first time I've got to a physical place to fill out a job application,” he said. “Every other place doesn't want to see you. They just want you to fill it out on the Internet.”
Walker has been unemployed for more than a year. He had been doing maintenance for a Desert Hot Springs apartment complex, but was let go in April 2008.
Walker said he's been doing small side jobs while submitting applications, and has been able to rely on his significant other's job at a mortgage company.
“I call her my sugar mama,” he said.
Also at the job fair, Lynn Green of Palm Springs applied for a golf retail opening. She managed an El Paseo store that closed in January and has been working part-time since March.
“This week I got 12 hours,” she said. “You can't live on 12 hours.”
Lee Roy Rosas applied for a kitchen-based job, saying he hopes Bighorn plans to hire someone to work nights.
The Palm Desert resident was looking for a second job so he can run a landscaping business during the day.
Rosas said his income has been cut in half by the recession.
“The first one to start going is the gardener,” he said. “They might have teenagers and go out and buy a lawnmower.”
California's unemployment rate was 11.9 percent in July — the highest number in modern record-keeping. The national average was 9.4 percent.
Riverside County's unemployment rate in July was 14.7 percent. In the Coachella Valley, it ranged from 6.6 percent in Bermuda Dunes to 27.2 percent in Mecca.
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