Elijah Deal used one hand to adjust his 2-month-old daughter Abby's car seat away from the breeze, and with the other he clutched the free stuff and job leads he'd collected at the job expo.
"I'll do anything that pays," he said.
Elijah, Kendra and Abby Deal made the hour-and-a-half drive from their home in Copperhill, Tenn., to The Colonnade Center in Ringgold, Ga., for Thursday's massive job expo.
The Northwest Georgia Career Expo, at which more than 2,000 jobs were available, was hosted by the Georgia Department of Labor and the Catoosa County Board of Commissioners.
The expo ran from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and featured 91 employers.
By just after 1 p.m., over 740 people had come looking for work.
Nathan Golder, left, speaks to Deborah Kelley with the Georgia National Guard Family Assistance Center about employment opportunities during a job fair at The Colonnade in Ringgold, Ga.Joel Alexis, project manager at the Georgia Department of Labor, said he expected to see over 1,000 by the end of the day.
It's normal to see around 500 to 600 participants in a career expo like Thursday's, so "we're very happy with the number we've had so far," he said.
Georgia unemployment is about 6.3 percent currently, and Tennessee is about the same at 6.6 percent. The national average is 5.5 percent.
Inside Thursday's Ringgold expo, young and old hopefuls alike rubbed shoulders and packed out the Colonnade hall, asking about salaries, hours, benefits and openings.
Some employers were hiring on-site. Others were taking applications and promising to call soon.
Coming out of the recession, it's as common to see middle-aged professionals as fresh-out-of-college candidates at expos like Thursday's, said Felicia Hamilton, recruiting specialist at Express Employment Professionals.
Express staffs for over 130 companies, and Hamilton said while work has noticeably picked up, there are still a lot of people unemployed or underemployed after taking whatever jobs were available to get through hard times.
She also said it's tougher for middle-aged job seekers to find work, especially if there is a gap in recent employment history.
The folks who did take whatever was available during the recession have an advantage over those who have been out of work in employers' minds, she said.
Brittany Sprayberry, also a recruiting specialist at Express, agreed.
"Doing something, even if it's a drop below what they're accustomed to, is better than not doing anything," she said.
Sprayberry said when employers see a work history gap, they want a good reason.
And "you come up with a good reason why you've been out of work," she said.
Frances Scoggins, left, speaks to Michael McCall, general manager for Chattanooga Labeling Systems, about her resume during a huge 15-county North Georgia job fair at The Colonnade in Ringgold, Ga., on Thursday, April 2, 2015. Scoggins has been unemployed for the past four months and is looking for a safety or manufacturing job.Elijah Deal said he's done a little of everything, from working in a chicken processing plant to hanging drywall.
He specifically wants to get on at the state prison, but would also like to get steady work at a carpet factory.
The family is tired of trying times like this past winter, when the flu visited and money "got real low there" for a while.
Brandon Sweet, recently laid off from a human resources job at a Chattanooga hospital, is also trying to take care of his family, which is about to grow by one.
Sweet lives in Walker County, Ga., and holds a bachelor's degree from Jacksonville State University. He is close to having a doctorate, possesses tens of thousands in student debt and can't get a response from the 40 employers he's reached out to in the last month.
"There's a lot of good opportunities in there," he said Thursday on the way to his car. "And I have the experience."
Sweet says in hindsight, he wishes he would have forgone getting a four-year degree and instead pursued a two-year degree in physical therapy.
He finds it frustrating that most employers have online applications and don't actually meet job-seekers face-to-face, bother to shake hands and give a straight answer.
"There's nobody that you can talk to straight up," he said.
He wants to stay in management if possible, but after being out of work a month, he's willing to do anything.
"I'll clean anybody's toilet to keep food on the table for my family," he said.
Contact staff writer Alex Green at agreen@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6480.