MOSES LAKE - The Internet has all but removed personal interaction from the hiring process.

Enter Big Bend Community College's Job and Career Fair held last week. Job fairs like Big Bend's offer job seekers a rare opportunity to meet potential employers face-to-face.

"We're pretty much applying online or we're emailing resumes, but you never get to actually talk to an employer," said Eileen Boylston, veterans' representative for WorkSource Central Basin. "This is a perfect opportunity to actually talk to the people who do the hiring and get that face time. I think that's important and really hard to come by these days."

Personal interaction isn't just a benefit to job seekers, it's good for employers, too, says Boylston.

"They get to see the candidates face-to-face and sometimes you can get a feel for somebody by looking at them that you can't get from a resume online or an online application," she says, adding that the job fair also gives employers opportunities to network with each other.

Kendra Wright, who has been looking for full-time work since she recovered from her knee surgery last July, was excited by the prospects available at the fair. She ran into friends manning booths that she didn't know were involved in the hiring at their respective companies.

"I didn't realize or know that some of my friends who ... have jobs would be out there with their booths and it actually helps ... finding work because you have a connection in that particular field," she says.

While she's undecided about going back to school, it was helpful to have so much information from local colleges from local colleges available at the job fair, she says.

Lesly Acosta, a training representative at Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) of Washington, attended the job fair to help scope out job prospects for clients.

"If I see any of them here (I) kind of help them and lead them to where they should be applying, coaching them on how to approach the employer," she says.

Janae Eng, health and life agent with Eng Insurance and Financial Services, attended to recruit insurance agents

"This year Don Eng ... became a district agent, so we're now able to recruit agents in our area," she said. "We're excited ... it took a lot to be able to do that."

Their biggest goal is to recruit a bilingual, Spanish-speaking agent, she said.

"It's kind of an untapped market and that's kind of what we've been looking ... for," she said. "I think we've got a few good candidates."