WATERLOO - Holding a job fair at a time when Iowa's jobless rate is at its highest in more than 20 years might sound like a lonely party.

Instead, more than three dozen employers and nearly 800 job seekers converged on the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center on Tuesday afternoon.

The pessimistic economic news has shrunk the applicant pool for some of the companies looking to hire. The fair offered them a chance to widen their pool of applicants.

"People don't realize there are still positions available," said Toni Babcock, human resources manager for the CBE Group.

Job seekers like Antoine Furlow didn't let the dreary economic news deter their job hunts.

"Any person who says there is a recession and stays home is one less person I have to compete with," he said.

Furlow moved to Waterloo from Chicago seeking a better economy and more employment opportunities. He found both here, he said.

"I have found a wide variety of work available here," he said.

After visiting various tables and booths, Furlow said he is leaning toward applying for something in the law enforcement field.

The Black Hawk County Sheriff's office had a booth at the job fair. Deputy Chad Chase, who staffed the station, said the office's current applicant pool has run dry. With retirements coming up, the sheriff's office has scheduled a physical fitness test for new would-be applicants on Nov. 21. The job fair was perfect timing, Chase said.

"It's paying off," he said.

Chase said several people at the fair initially assumed they weren't qualified to apply for a deputy position but learned otherwise after a short conversation. Chase said the department wanted to take advantage of the large pool of job seekers at the fair.

"We weren't getting the applicants we wanted before," Chase said.

The slow job market, however, was still apparent at the event, organizers said. The number of potential employers and job seekers was down from previous years, said Mike Howell, event chairman.

Howell, the Waterloo supervisor for Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services, began planning the job fair in the spring uncertain how much interest area employers had in holding it.

Despite statewide unemployment figures rising, enough employers said they were looking for applicants to go ahead with the fair.

"There's opportunities out there," Howell said. "It might be doing something different, but there are still employment opportunities here."

IBM, which is building an information technology center in Dubuque, had space at the event, which Howell said was a draw for technology job seekers.

Other sectors including finance, health care, manufacturing, customer service, food processing, construction, human services and transportation were represented at the fair.

GMAC Mortgage, which underwent an expansion about a year ago, is still hiring, said Steve Sesterhenn, senior manager of human resources. Sesterhenn directed applicants how to start a profile and apply online for openings at the Waterloo call center.

"I'm no good at talking on the phone," James Whitley joked.

"Anybody can talk on the phone," Sesterhenn said.

Hawkeye Community College, Iowa Workforce Development and the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance worked with Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services to organize the event.