PSTA Career Fair

Target Audience: The target audience was PSTA riders who were seeking jobs. Since many of our riders rely on public transit service, instead of job seekers spending their precious time riding from employer to employer, we brought the employers to them. PSTA riders were able to save time and money by riding to the PSTA headquarters, centrally located in Pinellas County, to meet a room full of employers all in one spot – including PSTA!

Strategy Objective:This career fair made it easy for those without their own vehicles to get a job. It was a one-stop shop for people who had an interest in public transportation, food service, finance, and many other industries to give out their resumes and meet employers. We had advertisements behind our drivers on all buses, as well as posters at our terminals. Our Leadership team was featured on morning news segments like The Morning Blend and on various other local channels. They were also interviewed in a Tampa Bay Times article. PSTA also teamed up with local career connector, CareerSource Pinellas, to advertise to job seekers about the fair.

Situation Challenge: As many know, there is a great need for employment in our country right now, specifically in Pinellas County. More than 2.5% of residents in Pinellas County are unemployed. Our 2022 leadership program cohort (Leadership PSTA) decided to act by hosting a job fair at PSTA. We asked ourselves, what if one of the reasons for that was due to a lack of transportation? Collectively we thought, let's use our transit system and our facility to create a one-stop destination and connect the dots for employers and job seekers. Ultimately, the goal became, "To connect job seekers to employers through our public transit system." We wanted to show the community that PSTA could be a partner in helping create solutions for issues in our region.

Results Impact: Because of our successful advertising and 4 media stories garnering 2. 5 million views, PSTA had 54 job seekers came, with 21 different employers in attendance. What makes this career fair unique is that the employers were specific to PSTA routes. The jobs available were in walking distance from bus stops or terminals, making it easy and convenient for the riders. Because of this successful fair, in terms of public view, PSTA is now seen as a community leader not only driven to connect people to places but connect people to opportunities.

Why Submit: PSTA is more than just a bus company—we connect people to their lifelines, and especially their places of employment. By having a "one-stop shop," we offered a solution to our most valuable customers, showed them we care, and stepped up as a leader in our community. As stated above, many people are looking for work and at PSTA we take responsibility for connecting people to new opportunities, so this time we brought the opportunities to our riders in one convenient place.