CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KWWL) – The five airlines serving the Eastern Iowa Airport and Signature Flight Support met with candidates looking for jobs today.
Maureen Loboda was hired within the first hour of today’s job fair. But she had been waiting to get hired with the airlines since last June, when she retired, and after the pandemic hit the travel industry.
She likes working with people.
“Yes, because that’s the fun part of working,” Loboda said, “It makes things more interesting.”
For Benjamin Ofuasia, the draw was working with the airplanes.
“I’m really looking for anything but I’ll learn anything while I’m here, even if I’m not working on maintenance,” Ofuasia said.
The job fair comes as the airport is reporting a burst in spring travel, although it doesn’t compare to the record-breaking travel seasons the airport had for three years prior to the pandemic.
“Leisure travel has been the primary travel that has rebounded quickly. Business travel is slow, but coming back up,” said Pam Hinman, director of marketing and communications for the airport.
For those with the jobs to offer with the airlines and flight services, they say it was the biggest turn-out they’ve seen in the last five years.
That’s good news for them, and just in time.
“There are a lot of part-time positions open and typically there’s a lot of turnover anyway, so this coincides with some normal turnover but also because travel is picking up,” Hinman said.
Hinman says the travel industry is not out of the woods yet, but it’s a lot further than it was last year.
If you missed the job fair today, you can still get your application in by sending a resume to [email protected].
