Osceola News Brief - Osceola County Job Fair

Osceola County, Florida – More than 1,200 people participated in an Osceola County Job Fair designed to connect employers to Hurricane Maria evacuees on Friday.

While open to all, the event was focused on people relocating to Central Florida from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Seventy-two employers, spanning professions such as healthcare, education, the hospitality and construction industries were at Osceola Heritage Park interviewing and recruiting potential employees. The County’s Human Resources staff provided approximately 300 attendees with résumé writing and interview skills, and 125 people were hired directly from employers on-site.

“I think the job fair and the people here have been very helpful,” said Lesley Cuevas, who found work with Westgate Resorts during the event Friday. She said that finding a job so quickly after arriving to Osceola County will help her and her family. “In Puerto Rico, there are lines for supplies and an incredible need for clean water and electricity, everything is chaos. Thankfully, I was able to find a good job today with Westgate Resorts”

The Osceola County Job Fair marks nearly a month of the efforts to provide information and services to those arriving in the community as the Hurricane Maria Reception Center opened on October 6.

“Today’s turnout was more than I imagined and everything for which I hoped. It demonstrates the eagerness of these new arrivals to find jobs and support their families,” said Commissioner Viviana Janer. “I’m proud that the County was able to step up and organize this event. And it is amazing that we have partners in our community who answered the call to make it a success.”

The County also held a food drive simultaneously with the Job Fair at OHP. Non-perishable items were collected and will be shipped to Puerto Rico.

Today, the focus returns to the Hurricane Maria Reception Center, which has served more than 1,400 families – with more than 1,100 more utilizing Osceola staff at a similar center at Orlando International Airport. Located at 320 N. Beaumont Ave. in Kissimmee, the HMRC is staffed by representatives from about dozen organizations who are able to offer resources from healthcare to education to job placement to help signing up for insurance and food stamps. The HMRC operates from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.