More than 500 job seekers with an interest in San Diego’s craft beer industry turned out Tuesday for a job fair hosted by the San Diego Brewers Guild.
The San Diego Craft Beer Job Fair went down between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. at SILO in Makers Quarter in downtown San Diego, located at 753 15th St.
In addition to the San Diego Brewers Guild, the job fair was also hosted by the San Diego State University (SDSU) Professional Certificate in the Business of Craft Beer program and UC San Diego Extension’s Brewing Certificate program.
At the event, job seekers -- including new graduates of the SDSU and UC San Diego craft beer and brewing programs -- got a chance to meet with a variety of local breweries and related businesses in the craft beer field.
Organizers said employers were looking to hire for both full-time and part-time positions, plus internships, in various departments – from brewers and bartenders, to managers, sales positions and engineers.
Jill Davidson, Vice President of the San Diego Brewers Guild said more than 12 local breweries hosted hiring booths at the event.
She said there are approximately 90 brewer members in the Guild, so these job fairs are a great way to pair up companies with prospective employees.
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“There’s a lot of potential. Craft beer is a huge business here,” Davidson told NBC 7.
Local breweries seeking candidates at the fair included: Stone Brewing; AleSmith Brewing Company; Karl Strauss Brewing Company; Tap Hunter; Green Flash Brewing Co.
Ryan Crisp, director of brewing operations at AleSmith Brewing, said his company was looking to hire between 10 to 15 people from the job fair.
Crisp said AleSmith was looking for qualified, enthusiastic candidates to fill out many open positions, from packaging, production, warehouse and brewing gigs to jobs in the company's marketing and sales departments.
"We're growing by 70 percent a year, so we're looking for a lot of people to fill out a lot of jobs," he told NBC 7.
Crisp said AleSmith Brewing Company also tries to host a job fair at its brewery once a year to find new team members.
The San Diego Brewers Guild says the thriving craft beer industry in San Diego shows no signs of slowing as a lucrative sector of the local economy.
Data recently released by National University System Institute for Policy Research shows that in 2015, San Diego’s 114 breweries and brewpubs generated $851 million in sales and employed 4,512 workers locally. Last year, 17 new breweries opened in San Diego County.
