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GREENSBORO - Hundreds of persistent job seekers braved a hard rain and scarce parking to attend the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce's Job Expo Wednesday.

At times, the line of people waiting to get in stretched outside the Guilford Convention Center at Interstate 40/Business 85 and Lee Street.

Some expressed surprise at the scores of job seekers crowding the tables of more than 60 businesses set up to recruit employees.

"I didn't think there would be so many people here," said Cynthia James, 43, who is just starting to look for a customer service job after five years out of the work force to help her son, his girlfriend and their baby.

"I just can't believe this many people are out of a job," she said.

People of all ages squeezed through the aisles, talking to representatives including the Army, Crown Automotive, Guilford County Schools and Mass Mutual.

Temporary services agencies had a high profile, and many were finding it hard to find exactly the right kinds of workers for their positions, despite the rising unemployment rate in the Piedmont Triad.

"It is an employer's market right now, so they are looking for high skill," said Barbara McNeill, with the Triad Adecco franchise.

She is working with a large company that needs accounting, human resources and payroll workers. She will have to recruit people from as far away as Pennsylvania to fill those jobs.

By 3 p.m., McNeill had seen about 100 prospective employees from unskilled to highly experienced, and she'll be able to find work for about 50 percent of them.

"There seemed to be a direct correlation between pay and education and training," said Rob Bencini, intergovernmental services director for Guilford County, who talked with many of the employers at the expo.

He said many jobs were paying as low as $10 an hour, especially for people with low skill levels.

"Many of the jobs are not careers, but they are work for now," he said.

One company that's looking for up to 100 workers with a range of skills is O'Reilly Auto Parts, which will open a distribution center in May. The company is looking for hourly workers through higher-level supervisors.

O'Reilly offers training to many of its employees to teach them its procedures and culture, said David Leonhart, the regional distribution center director.

Meanwhile, Vital Akimana was off to the side, trying to get used to the crush of a job expo. The Guilford College senior said he is starting the job hunt early so he can see what his options are.

A double major in peace and conflict and religious studies who lived his early life in Rwanda, Akimana is interested in mediation work or personal assistant administrative work.

"Anything that has the possibility to grow," he said. "The amount of people in the building - it kind of seems a little crowded and hard to assimilate information.

"Students should probably have this experience because it might shock them at first."

Contact Richard M. Barron at 373-7371 or richard.barron@news-record.com