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Job Fair Attracts Hundreds In Silicon Valley

SAN JOSE (KCBS) - A job fair for low-income families in Silicon Valley attracted more than 600 applicants.

Many of those who turned out are about to lose public assistance benefits.

Lydia, a single mother who only has one month of benefits left, is desperately searching for a job.

"At this point I'm hoping to get any job that's going to help me to get back into the field that I was in, which was security," she said.

KCBS' Mike Colgan:

Job Fair Organizer Keith Robinson said the good news is that a lot more employers are interested in hiring this year.

"We have everybody from Wendy's to the Fairmont, and then everybody in between that," he said.

"So we have the retail, the hotels, we have security, just a variety of companies as well as agencies."

Those agencies include the US Customs Service which is interested in hiring 800 border patrol agents.

Officer Karen Hughes said applicants must be willing to move.

"Border patrol is down of course on the border between Mexico and the United States, so that's going to be Texas, Arizona and Southern California," said Hughes.

"All the jobs currently right now are going to be down in Southern California."

Twenty employers turned out for the job fair.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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