What its organizer is calling the biggest job fair in Southern California will be held in Los Angeles Thursday, bringing some 10,000 job seekers together with recruiters from 250 technology firms.
The fair began at 11 a.m. and is scheduled to end at 8 p.m. at The REEF, an exhibition space in downtown L.A.
Jason Nazar, the CEO of Comparably, which monitors the job market, is staging TechFair LA, along with Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has been designated the event’s host and will deliver a keynote address at 5:45 p.m.
“There’s never been one (a job fair) this big in Southern California, with so many top companies under one roof,” Nazar told USA TODAY.
“There have been big events before,” said Nazar, the CEO of Comparably, which monitors the job market, “but never one where the average person can walk in the door and directly meet the top execs from the companies.”
Some 10,000 people have registered to attend the free event, and more than 250 companies are exhibiting, including Snapchat, Tinder, Dollar Shave Club, Tesla, Riot Games, the Honest Co. and companies not based in Southern California, like YouTube, Airbnb and Uber.
The event will underscore the growing heft of the Los Angeles tech community, which has been eclipsed by the San Francisco Bay Area — home to Apple, Facebook, Google, Intel and other tech powerhouses.
“Today is about matching L.A.’s talent with new opportunities to shape how we communicate with one another, use our cars, or even take flight beyond Earth’s atmosphere,” Garcetti said.
“But those dreams start with an interview — and at a time when our city is experiencing historic economic growth, Angelenos should be at the front of the line when companies need people to help envision and build that future.”
Besides an array of engineer jobs, tech firms also have many other openings in Los Angeles, Nazar said, including productdesign, marketing and sales, administration and senior management roles.
