WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — While the school year is not even over, this is prime hiring season to prepare for next school year.
On Wednesday, nearly 1,000 people came out to the Expo Center at the South Florida Fairgrounds for the Palm Beach County School District's largest hiring event of the year.
Representatives were on hand from all of the district's 182 schools as well as departments like school police, school food service, and more. Job seekers met with potential future bosses and some even received job offers.
Sharon Temple waited in a long line for school food service, hoping to work in the cafeteria line at a local school.
"I'm looking at school food service. I always wondered what it was like to work in the school food service, so I hope I get the opportunity and chance to do that," she said.
"I'm looking for a job as an adult teacher in the evening. Why? Because I want to give back to the community," Philone Pierrenoel told WPTV.
As the county's largest employer, the school district said the job fair is an opportunity to staff up before next year.
Elaine Gallagher, the school district's director of recruitment and retention, said there's a reason they do the biggest hiring effort at this time of year.
"The earlier we get ourselves ready for next school year, the better. We get better qualified candidates to come here and meet our principals," she said.
Gallagher said she was pleased with the turnout.
"We have great things to offer and we are so excited that our community is so incredibly interested in working for us and being here and joining our team," she said. "I think we still have a lot of people who are interested in making a difference in children's lives and I think that shows today when we see this kind of turnout."
Gallagher said right now there are about 300 instructional vacancies, which is average for this time of year.
"Our largest employee pool is teachers. We employ 13,000 teachers in the school district and so that is usually our biggest need," she said. "It's really important for us to value our employees and ensure they know and understand that we know and care about what they do."
Muriel Morales also attended the job fair. She said she currently works for another county but hopes to join Team Palm Beach.
"What brought me here today is to have a better opportunity for myself and increase my income and increase my life." Morales said. "All the Boca schools. Basically, elementary, middle, high school— I've talked to them all and some opportunities may be opening up, which would be wonderful."
Those who are interested in a job but did not attend the job fair, can find more information at https://www.palmbeachschools.org/careers.