MANSFIELD — More than 100 people funneled through a job fair within the first hour Tuesday at the Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center, 890 W. Fourth St.

Ohio Means Jobs (OMJ) of Richland County’s Lori Bedson was optimistic that the second annual fair might reach record attendance as people continued to show up throughout the morning.

“It’s been steady. It seemed like last year everybody came at 10 o’clock, so hopefully this keeps up,” she said.

The first job fair attracted more than 450 people and featured 60 employers.

It’s success prompted OMJ and the Richland Area Chamber of Commerce to expand in only its second year. Richland Area Chamber of Commerce President Jodie Perry estimated 90 employers were in attendance Tuesday.

“Our goal is to get people to work, fill those positions, help people provide for their families,” Perry said. “We have more employers this year. We opened a second room because we had such a big waiting list.”

Still, both rooms were crowded throughout the morning. The fair continued through 2 p.m.

Neil Hamilton, CEO and President of Hamilton Insurance, said he collected six promising resumes in the first hour.

“We’re here greeting people and talking about our insurance agency and positions we have available, looking for good quality candidates,” he said.

Specifically, he was looking to fill an administrative assistant position and sales positions.

Bedson hoped that job seekers were able to take advantage of the opportunities by mingling with a mix of local employers.

“For some people, it’s an opportunity for them to see what kind of employers are in the community and just gives them an idea of types of positions that maybe they hadn’t thought about before based on their skillset and education,” Bedson said. “For others, I hope that it equates to a job.”

She encourages anyone who didn’t attend the fair to come by the Ohio Means Job Center at 171 Park Avenue East or look through jobs posted at ohiomeansjobs.com.

The job fair was sponsored by the Richland Area Chamber of Commerce and Ohio Means Jobs and further supported by Catalyst Life Services, Richland Community Development Group, Ohio Opportunities with Disabilities, the Mansfield-Richland County Library, Goodwill, Regional Manufacturers Coalition, iHeartMedia, Madison Adult Career Center and Pioneer Career & Technology Center.