EAA’s first-ever job fair, held at the new College Park region of the AirVenture grounds, drew more than 1,000 job-seekers, EAA’s Ann Gentz told AVweb on Wednesday afternoon. “We had so many jobs available,” she said, as the event wound down. “They were not just flying jobs, there were mechanic jobs, engineer jobs, all sorts of things, and a well-qualified work force coming to see.” Companies seeking workers included Alaska Airlines, Rockwell Collins, Cessna, Cirrus, Gulfstream, Garmin, Basler, The Spaceship Company, and more. The job seekers ranged from younger people to workers with lots of qualifications and years of experience.
“We’ll definitely try to do this as an annual event,” Gentz said. “I’m so excited with how it turned out. We didn’t know, this was our first year. We could have used even more space.” Vaughn Howig, with Garmin, said she was “very pleased” with the turnout. “We have 35 to 40 jobs to fill this year, both entry-level and experienced,” she said. The jobs are based in both Kansas City and in Chandler, Ariz., where the company is expanding. “We’ll have about 400 new jobs to fill in Arizona in the next couple of years,” she said.
