Hundreds attended a career fair on Wednesday at Heald College in Northwest Fresno.
Kristin Huebert arrived at her alma mater with updated resumes in hand to meet face-to-face with valley employers.
She's finding the job market is a lot tougher than it was when she graduated five years ago.
"A lot of people have very good experience and years of it, too, so it's stiff competition," said Huebert.
Despite the nation's high unemployment rate and even higher jobless figures here in the valley, some jobseekers say the outlook is improving.
About 30 employers took part in the career fair. All of them were accepting applications, organizers said.
Principal Financial Group is hiring financial advisors. They're essentially sales positions with very specific skill sets, employees said.
"That's what we're looking for is those people with an intense desire to be successful in serving a client's needs," said Lisa Rinehart, Recruiting Director for Principal Financial Group.
"There's positions available. It's just employers need to find the qualified candidates to fill them," said Stephanie Hausladen, Director of Career Services for Heald College.
Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin hopes to make it easier for job seekers to learn about training opportunities through a new initiative called Learn2Earn.
President Obama mentioned a similar idea during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
"I wanna cut through the maze of confusing training programs," Obama said during his speech.
Juan Villegas just started a 30-day training program two weeks ago after being on unemployment for months. He's already noticing results.
"It's a little frustrating, but you got to keep going forward. It just depends on how you apply your skills," said Villegas.