Report: 18% of Tampa Bay companies plan to hire

TAMPA - Job fairs can be a daunting place -- face-to-face interviews, long lines and lots of competition.

"A bus pass to get me here, yep, and walking in the heat," said job hunter Manny Calvo.

We found things are looking up.

"You're seeing those middle-level management positions come back, and taking that work load off of an upper level management person that was covering five or six positions, that's when you know that the economy is starting to come back," said Fara Kneitel, Job News General Sales Manager.

And there's more to tell.

The good news comes from a report that surveyed Tampa Bay companies. Nearly 20-percent of them say they expect to expand and hire this year. It’s a big jump from last year when only 5-percent said the same thing.

The forecast from ManpowerGroup says 6-percent of Tampa Bay companies plan to downsize and 76-percent plan on holding steady.

Johanna DiPietro says her company, One Touch Direct is hiring 150 people every month until December.

"These people are calling existing customers who already have AT&T land line or internet with AT&T and we're calling them trying to up sell them with the U-Verse product," she said.

Macy's is hiring credit and customer service reps. Avis Budget group is looking for rental sales agents. Cardinal Health needs warehouse associates and Walmart is hiring store managers.

But job seekers question the pay.

"That's a real problem, you still, even though you may be going to work and a little bit of something beats a lot of nothing. But it's hard still yet to take care of your bills," said Anthony Platt.

We'll get a look at the newest job numbers for Florida on Friday but here's a little more good news, Manny Calvo will take the bus to his new job on Monday.

"I tried to use the law of attraction saying I'm going to get something today-- positive, optimistic and it happened," he said.