Area residents looking for work or interested in getting a better job will have the opportunity to meet with local employers and leave their resumes Aug. 4 at the Governor’s Job Fair at the Vicksburg Convention Center sponsored by the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce.

“This job fair draws people from the around the surrounding area, so it’s not just Vicksburg itself or Warren County,” job fair chairman Don Brown said. “We have people from the west side of Hinds County, the Bolton area and Edwards, people come from Louisiana, the Claiborne area, and we even get people from up in Yazoo and people from Jefferson County, so it’s a pretty good radius.”

The fair is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Brown said more than 1,000 people attended the 2014 jobs fair, which featured about 48 employers. More than 300 jobs were offered last year, he said. “It’s predicted maybe 400 may get jobs because of attending the job fair,” he said. He said potential job seekers can prepare for the job fair at an employment seminar July 27 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Vicksburg WIN Job Center on Monroe Street, where they can learn to prepare a resume and interview skills.

Presently, about 40 employers have signed up for this fair, and state officials anticipate others could come on board before Aug. 4.

“I anticipate having more by the actual time we get to the job fair, possibly close to 50 organizations,” said Adam Todd, state director of the Governor’s Job Fair.

Todd said some of the organizations attending the fair would be from the state’s WIN Job Center and Hinds Community College.

“If someone walks in and may not have the skill set required to find a job, they can get set up with the local WIN Center or community college (to help) get the course work to get the skills,” he said. “We do try to have training providers at all our sites.”

Jane Flowers, Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce executive director, said she represented Hinds at the job fair when she was with the college.

She said having the college’s technical instructors there not only helped getting people to consider getting training, but it gave instructors an opportunity to see what skills companies need and are looking for.

“We also want employers in this community having a presence there,” she said. “They may not have job openings now, but the main thing is that they let the people know they are out there, and I think that’s really important.

“This is a community effort, and it’s team-driven,” she said, adding representatives from businesses and industries in city serve on the job fair planning committee.

The Vicksburg Job Fair is approaching its 20th year, said Brown, who has chaired its planning committee for the past 15 years.

Todd said the Governor’s Job Fair began in 1991.

“These are one-day, community-driven events, that is why it is so essential that we have the chambers and people who put effort in the communities planning these events,” he said.

He said there are currently 25 job fairs held statewide at various times during the year and have developed more than 1,000 jobs statewide.