2/4/2013 9:04:00 AM

Times Union: Nanotech job hunters flood fair

Times Union

ALBANY — After applying for more than 200 jobs, interviewing for 15 and receiving exactly zero job offers, Matthew Tatum hopes he may have finally landed a gig.

Tatum was among the 800 job hunters who flocked to University at Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering on Saturday for a high-tech job fair.

NanoCollege officials were hoping to fill 300 positions — a number so high it read like a typo to some unemployed in a grim economic climate.

"There's just not too many jobs out there," said Tatum, 31, an Albany resident. Tatum lost his job nine months ago when the Central Avenue shoe store where he worked closed its doors. Since then, he said looking for work to support his 11-month-old daughter has become a full-time occupation — living off the $110 per week he receives in unemployment in the meantime.

He interviewed for two positions at Saturday's job fair, an IT position, and maintenance work.

"I'm still hopeful," he said.

The NanoCollege job openings are driven in large part by program and facility expansions, including the Global 450mm Consortium, or G450C, part of a $4.8 billion research endeavor by five of the world's largest computer chip companies that will take place at the school's nearly complete NanoFab Xtension.

Many of the open positions at Saturday's fair were for the well-paid technician and engineering jobs that are the backbone of a rapidly expanding industry in the Capital Region.

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