POD: Day 214 | 3.15.12

Thursday I got sent out on my first full day of assignments. I covered a job fair at Central Piedmont Community College for a daily assignment and a community garden for an upcoming feature. Photos from the job fair ran in Friday's paper on 2B:

Becky Murillo, left, speaks with Nancy Lopez Olivera, a talent acquisitions manager for Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated. Olivera said she fielded "hundreds" of interested applicants: "It's been all day and it's wonderful."

More than 1,6000 people hoping to find or change jobs filled Charlotte's Grady Cole Center Thursday for CPCC's 2012 career fair. It was a chance for face to face time with managers for companies that are actively hiring in the area, including Coca-Cola, Apple and Windstream.