ROCKLAND — Rockland Main Street and the Penobscot Regional Chamber of Commerce hosted its Spring Hiring Fair on Wednesday, April 18, at South School. The event allowed year round and seasonal job seekers a chance to talk to potential employers and shop the job market with a wide variety of Midcoast businesses. Businesses large and small presented their companies in hopes of snagging those elusive summer employees.

With the unemployment rate down for the Midcoast, businesses put their best foot forward in hopes of hiring job seekers.

Gordon Page, director of Rockland Main Street, said 60 businesses and nonprofits represented hundreds of jobs in the region.

“It’s not just about Rockland,” he said. “It’s about the entire Midcoast region. We have some statewide organizations represented. For example, the Department of Corrections is here and the Transportation Security Administration are here, as well. There are a lot of locql businesses that a lot of people would recognize.”

“Page said it was an opportunity for businesses to get to know each other.

“It’s as much about business-to-business communication as it is trying to put employees into their organizations,” he said.

Rockland Mayor Vali Geiger said the fair was good for Rockland.

“It’s also surprising to hear people talk about two percent unemployment,” she said. “They see themselves competing with other businesses for employees and I think that’s good for everybody. It makes it a potential employees’ market. I’m hopeful that people who are looking for jobs today find them today and I’m hopeful that people who need employees find them.”