Businesses from the Vicksburg area and across Mississippi and Louisiana will be at the Vicksburg Convention Center Aug. 1 looking for potential employees during the annual Governor’s Job Fair sponsored by the Vicksburg-Warren Chamber of Commerce and the state’s WIN Job Center.

“I think this is one of the best events the chamber of commerce has to affect people’s lives,” program chairman Don Brown, told Port City Kiwanians Thursday. “This not only gives people an opportunity to get a job, but it also gives them a chance to improve their position, and the Vicksburg Convention Center is a good venue for the job fair.

Presently, 22 companies have signed up to participate in the job fair.

“We’re expecting to have 50 companies,” Brown said. “That’s the average number each year. We have them from inside the state and outside the state and other places, and they make it known they have jobs.”

Among the out-of-county companies attending the job fair last year, he said, were Yazoo County, Adams County, Hinds County and Madison Parish, La.

“There are people who work in Madison Parish and live here Vicksburg,” he said. “They bring that money back and it goes into our economy. We have also had police departments and the military setting up. The Dallas Police Department was here one year.”

Besides businesses, Brown said, several of the state’s colleges set up to talk with people about continuing their education. Hinds Community College, he said, holds a program before the job fair to help people prepare for the event by teaching them how to prepare a resume, how to dress to meet business people, and how to do interviews.

“How to help them come across looking like they’re prepared to get a job,” he said.

“We usually have 100 job offers each job fair,” Brown said, “And there are a number of contacts made that develop into jobs later. This is an opportunity for people to go at one time to one place and see 50 employers. They can come and get an offer for something they’re looking for.

“We want the people to come, take their time, and come dressed like they’re ready to go to work.”