FAIRFIELD — The Queen City Jobs Greater Cincinnati Career Fair had a lighter than expected turnout Monday in spite of jobs available.

About 500 job-seekers turned out for the career fair held 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Receptions Banquet & Conference Center, said Zac Gill, general sales manager for Queen City Jobs. It was the last of four career fairs hosted by the jobs website this year, Gill said. Prior job fairs averaged more than 600 people.

With the most recent unemployment rate of 9.4 percent in Butler County, Gill said he expected more people.

“Not one of our largest, but a decent sized crowd,” Gill said.

Added to the challenge was matching qualified job-seekers with the jobs available.

More of the crowd fit with Fifth Third Bank’s customer service positions than the sales or banking experience Fifth Third was looking for, said Angela Morrissey, a corporate recruiter. She had 10 openings for retail associates, customer service representatives and managers and tellers.

Lauren Brown, 22, of Lawrenceburg, Ind., felt she had a good lead from the bank.

“I’ve found that looking in the past couple months, you can’t find a job just in your degree,” said Brown, who has a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership. “You can’t find a job without experience, it’s a catch-22.”

Of the other more than 20 companies with jobs available were ScherZinger and Time Warner Cable.

ScherZinger was looking to fill three or four jobs in route sales and service and inside sales. “We’re here because our company is growing,” said Brian Sargent, call center manager for the pest management business.

Sargent said the company, started in 1934, was helped by the bedbug outbreak.

By noon, Time Warner had received more than 40 resumes and conducted some on-site interviews, said Tina Andrews and Angela Del Rio, human resource generalists.

The cable company had 25 to 30 positions to fill.

“I think overall they’re meeting what we expected,” Andrews said.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or clevingston@coxohio.com.