COLORADO SPRINGS — Recruit Military and Disabled American Veterans co-hosted a career fair at the Broadmoor World Arena on Thursday to help the men and women who have served our country find meaningful employment.

“Our mission is to empower both our employers and our candidates to connect with jobs,” said Recruit Military Event Director, Allen Von Plinsky. “So we empower the candidates to find and have the resources available for them to find the right fit, that passionate fit.”

Recruit Military said career fairs help veterans connect with employers.

“They’re probably the best way for veterans to connect with employers face to face because coming out of the military, a lot of the veterans aren’t necessarily 100% fit for most of the jobs that are out in the civilian world,” said Von Plinsky.

One career fair attendee, John Franklin, left the event feeling hopeful.

“I talked to a couple of employers and got a couple of interviews right on the spot,” said Franklin. “So I’m actually kind of excited to see how that goes moving forward.”

72 employers came to the event. One employer at Sandia National Laboratories said these career fairs help connect them with hard working veterans.

“Events like this are wonderful because it gives you an opportunity to meet a whole host of different veterans across all kinds of disciplines and all kinds of job aspirations,” said Lance Hansen. “We have veterans on our team, and so we’re able to speak that language and help them early in that transition process.”

Volunteers for Recruit Military said they were able to help support career fair attendees.

“The best part is that I can… support them and kind of encourage them,” said Veronica Barnette, Recruit Military volunteer. “What I gathered from a lot of the conversations I had, they were a little nervous to come in here.”

Another volunteer for Recruit Military, Rebecca Vasquez, said the fair is beneficial both for employeers and attendees.

“Yet, everybody walked away with someone’s name, someone’s number or resumé, and people walked out for the employers service,” said Vasquez.

The next Recruit Military career fair will be in Denver on October 20. Click here for registration information.