4,000 jobs up for grabs at Dallas seasonal job fair

Hundreds of people headed to Downtown Dallas Thursday afternoon in hopes of finding work over the holiday season.

Nearly 2,000 people registered before the job fair at the Sheraton Hotel even started. Others were lined up waiting to get inside to start the process.

People who arrive at the job fair before 6 p.m. are considered for a job. There are 4,000 of them up for grabs.

UPS is gearing up for a huge rise in business this Christmas season. The company asked Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins if he could help, and the job fair was the result.

Most of the people FOX 4 spoke to are already employed but are looking for second jobs to help bring in more income.

"Lowest jobs here are $10-20 an hour for part-time young people. Average is 12,13,14 an hour," Jenkins said. "Plenty of jobs $75 and above."

Uniko Wright just found out he got a job offer.

“Better opportunity to make my Christmas better for my family,” he said.

“Employers are bidding against each other. That's bringing up the wages. I'm very happy about that,” Judge Jenkins said. “What we're seeing is an explosion of online shopping, not just at the holidays, but throughout the year. Amazon, UPS, FedEx, Walmart needing more and more people to work in that package shipping arena and raising those wages in that arena."

Jenkins says Thursday was the largest turnout for a job fair that the county has ever had.

UPS is among the companies offering people jobs on the spot. It's also changing its business model to allow some people in rural areas to deliver packages using their personal vehicles. Those drivers will still be in uniform.