Puna youth career fair aims to connect locals with jobs in Pahoa

Puna Rising will hold what it calls the first Puna Youth Career Fair on Saturday, Aug. 15, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Pahoa, a free event meant to connect young residents with local employers before they look elsewhere for work. Registration is open, and the fair is being billed as free and open to the community.

A Puna Happenings post says small business owners, educators and industry employers are expected to attend, with open interviews, work experience programs, apprenticeships and career planning among the opportunities being promoted. That mix matters in Puna, where transportation, income and access to information can shape whether a teenager, recent graduate or young adult can find a path to stay in the district.

The fair lands in the middle of a long-running Big Island problem: too few local openings that match the ambitions and training needs of younger residents. Rural and semi-rural parts of Hawaii Island have long seen young people leave for school, training or higher-paying jobs, and the effort in Pahoa is built around the opposite idea, that work and advancement can be found closer to home.

That argument lines up with broader workforce policy in Hawaii. The State of Hawaii Workforce Development Council says its role is to help align workforce needs, while Chamber of Commerce Hawaii says businesses need a skilled talent pipeline and kamaāina need pathways to careers that pay a family-sustaining wage. UHERO has also examined migration trends in Hawaii, reinforcing why the loss of young workers matters not just to families, but to the island’s labor force over time.

Puna Rising has already been building around that theme. The group previously promoted an Entrepreneur Hub youth career development program for May 23 at HAAS in Pahoa, suggesting the fair is part of a larger push to give local teens and young adults a clearer route into work and training.

Career fairs have become a more common workforce tool across the islands, including hiring-event outreach by the County of Hawaii in Hilo and similar events on Oahu. In Pahoa, the test is whether one afternoon of face-to-face access between employers and job seekers can help keep more of Puna’s next generation rooted in the district.