Looking for a leg up in a still-tight job market

They showed up coiffed and attentive. Many carried résumés. If they were feeling beaten up by the recession, it didn't immediately show on their faces.

More than 500 job seekers descended on the Mall of America in Bloomington Tuesday for a half-day "job summit" put on by the state's largest organization of staffing and recruiting firms.

Othello Utley, 18, who is about to enter McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, came to the free event to get tips on how to start building a career as a music producer.

"It's good to start thinking about these things now, and planning," he said.

Tom Matthews, who has spent the past several years caring for aging parents, came to get help with his résumé. He's been doing contract work in financial accounting because it gave him flexibility, but now wants to return to a full-time job.

Participants such as Utley and Matthews got a chance to hear what employers value in today's market, to learn how to use Linked In as a job-search tool or to get tips on appropriate workplace attire. They also could drop off résumés and visit with representatives from 25 companies who were looking to place a wide range of candidates and skills, including human resource executives, engineers, pharmaceutical sales reps, accountants, forklift operators, mailroom clerks and bookkeepers.

"The staffing industry is typically a leading indicator in a recession," said Jackie Engmark, executive director of the Minnesota Recruiting and Staffing Association, which put together the first of what she hopes will be an annual event. "Companies that aren't ready to start hiring again bring in people on a part-time or full-time basis and try them out. For people looking for jobs, it's a good way to get the foot in the door."

Job hunters showed up at the mall's fourth-floor Executive Center at 7:30 a.m., a half hour before the job fair was scheduled to begin.

By 10 a.m., there was an hourlong waiting list for those who wanted to sit through a practice interview or have someone look at their resumes. As six pairs of recruiters and job hunters huddled in a small meeting room, several others found space in a nearby reception area.

"We didn't know what to expect," said Deb Damhof, of Purchasing Professionals, who was coordinating the interview and résumé sessions. "I'm having to fit in people into every spare moment, and people on the [waiting] list keep stopping back to see if anything has opened up."

Mary Korsten was one of the lucky ones who didn't have to wait. She worked at Wells Fargo for 28 years but was laid off from the business banking area in November 2008. Though she's working for a nonprofit now, she has a second interview Thursday with a company she thinks might be a better fit with her skills and experience.

"I'm not very good at interviewing, because I haven't had to do it for a really long time," said Korsten, 55, of Red Wing, with a chuckle. "I learned here that I need to try to relax and just be myself."

"We've been noticing a pick-up since the beginning of the year, but especially in the last month," she said. "Companies that might need five workers a month now are needing five a week, every week."

At the Salo booth, Alissa Ochs explained that her firm hires among "the top 15 percent" of the marketplace for Fortune 500 companies and for firms that need expertise for specific projects. With a stringent screening process in which one in 15 candidates is selected, Salo specializes in hiring accounting and finance executives. Its three affiliate agencies specialize in human resources, law and number-crunchers.

"We're sensing a lot of optimism in the marketplace," Ochs said. "Companies want to talk to us, even if they aren't going to be hiring for three to six months."

That's could be good news for John Clark, 39, who is living with his brother in Milwaukee but hopes to land a job in the Twin Cities. Clark earned a law degree in December and has been unable to find an entry-level legal job. He's now wondering whether he'll have better luck building on his previous work in information technology.

"It's been discouraging looking for work in the legal field," he said. "If I wanted to get back into IT, there's a fair amount of jobs. I handed out 10 résumés today for IT jobs."