Three South County organizations have joined together to connect the community with regional potential employers.
The first South County Community Job Fair is set for 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11 in the Mehlville High School gymnasium, 3200 Lemay Ferry Road.
The Mehlville School District, Southwest Area Chamber of Commerce and Call Newspapers have teamed up to host the fair, which could have up to 40 businesses at the event seeking employees.
The idea for a South County Community Job Fair first came to be back in 2020, when Mehlville Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Chad Dickemper, along with other administrative staff, attended a job fair in a neighboring county and recognized the need for a similar event in South County.
A job fair was planned for 2020, in partnership between the school district and The Call, but unfortunately that first job fair was ultimately postponed because of COVID-19 — until now.
“Well, I think we’re very excited that we’re finally having the job fair. This was planned just before the shutdown of the pandemic in 2020. We did try to pursue ways to keep promoting the businesses and organizations signed up at that time into 2020 and on into 2021,” The Call’s Publisher Deborah Baker said. “We finally arrived at a point where I felt like we could move forward, and we actually brought the local Southwest Area Chamber of Commerce on board with Mehlville School District who approached us back in 2020 to do this.”
The list of participating businesses as of Oct. 2 is:
• Andre’s Banquet Facilities• S.M. Arnold• Bart Inman Air• Bausch & Lomb• Call Newspapers• Central Bank• Century Credit Union• Delmar Gardens• Fairway Holdings• FCB Banks• First Community• Credit Union• First Student• Friendship Village• Gamache & Myers, PC• Heartland Industries• Hovis & Associates• Katsam Ent.• Kenrick’s Meats & Catering• Lindbergh School District• LMC Industries• Lutheran Senior Services• McDonald’s• Mehlville Fire Protection District• Mehlville School District• Mercy Hospital• Mid-America Carpenters• Production Castings• Reinhold Electric• Scenic Nursing• Seiler Plastics• Seniors Home Care• South County YMCA• Southwest Area Chamber of Commerce• Tutor Doctor• Visiting Angels• Westaff• Westbrook Academy• Wilson Manufacturing• Woodard
The event is free and open to the public, and high school students and college students are encouraged to attend as well.
Applications are being accepted on a first-come, first-served basis for any businesses or organizations who are interested in being a vendor at the job fair. Availability is limited. Premier vendor spots cost $375, standard spots cost $275.
Chamber members receive a discount.
Businesses and organizations can register online at callnewspapers.com/jobfair. For more details, call 314-843-0102 or email sales1@callnewspapers.com.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article misstated the name of the local chamber of commerce. It is the Southwest Area Chamber of Commerce, not Southwest Chamber of Commerce.