Jacksonville Job Fair Oct. 22 at the Southside Marriott: What to Bring

Published: September 22, 2026 | By LocalJobPage Team

JACKSONVILLE, FL — On Thursday, October 22, Best Hire Career Fairs brings its fall Jacksonville job fair to the Marriott on Salisbury Road, three hours of face time with recruiters in the Deerwood corridor off J. Turner Butler Boulevard. Admission is free. It is the first general-audience fair here since the September events cleared out, and it shares the day with a second free fair fifteen miles north.

11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., free to attend, open to the public. Register ahead online; walk-ins get in if space allows.

Need work now? Skip straight to the job links and start searching →

📍 At a Glance

Event	Jacksonville Job Fair, hosted by Best Hire Career Fairs
Date	Thursday, October 22, 2026
Time	11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Location	Jacksonville Marriott, 4670 Salisbury Road, Jacksonville, FL 32256
Cost	Free for job seekers
Format	In person, employer booths with on-site screening interviews
Registration	Free online through the organizer, strongly recommended
Walk-ins	Allowed if space permits
Eligibility	Open to the public

💼 Who Recruits at a Fair Like This

One thing up front: no employer roster has been published for October 22, and no headcount has been announced. What the organizer does say is which sectors it books, and that list reads like a map of the Southside: logistics, finance and insurance, health care, advanced manufacturing, aviation, IT, retail and hospitality, and government and defense support.

That lines up with where the hiring is. CareerSource Northeast Florida put the region's August jobless rate at 4.8 percent, down a tick from July but up from 4.4 percent a year earlier. Underneath that flat number, education and health services added 4,500 jobs over the year and professional and business services added 2,300. A room of recruiters reads a market like that faster than another portal application does.

⚠️ Different Fair, Same Thursday

October 22 is doing double duty. Better Together runs a free community job fair that morning at Gateway to Heaven Church, 7700 N. Pearl St. on the Northside, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Different organizer, different room, different reader.

That one deliberately recruits second-chance employers and employers who can hire Spanish-speaking applicants, and it is the better room if a record keeps getting you screened out by software. The Marriott fair is a conventional corporate floor. The two overlap by two hours and sit half an hour apart, so pick one. Northside details are in our fall job fairs guide.

💵 What the $15 Floor Means in That Room

Florida's minimum wage stepped up to $15.00 an hour on September 30, so by October 22 it is the law, not a coming change. Jacksonville cannot set its own rate, because Florida preempts local wage ordinances, which puts Duval, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns on the same floor. The rate that applies follows the address where you do the work, not where you live.

Do not treat $15.00 as the going rate. It is the legal basement. Warehouse, logistics and trades roles here routinely start well above it, health care and manufacturing higher still.

📋 How to Show Up Ready

The organizer suggests arriving about thirty minutes early to line up. The first hour is the least crowded.

More printed resumes than you think you need, plus a copy you can email from your phone
Business-casual or better, the same as you would wear to an interview
Photo ID and your licenses: CDL, TWIC card, security license, nursing license
A notepad, so you can write down names and follow up inside 48 hours
Availability you can state plainly, nights and weekends included

🔎 Where to Aim Before October 22

A fair is one afternoon. The postings they are staffing a table to fill are live now, and walking in having already applied is the easiest way to be memorable.

Start here:

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the October 22 Jacksonville job fair free?

Yes. Admission is free for job seekers; employers pay to exhibit.

Do I have to register in advance?

Registration is free and strongly recommended, because the room has a capacity. Walk-ins get in if space permits, so registering is the difference between certain and probable entry.

Where exactly is the Jacksonville Marriott?

4670 Salisbury Road, Jacksonville, FL 32256, in the Deerwood and Southpoint office cluster off J. Turner Butler Boulevard near I-95, with on-site parking.

Which employers will be at the fair?

No roster has been published for this date. The organizer posts confirmed employers on its own event page as the date nears.

Don't Wait for the Doors to Open

One Thursday afternoon is not a job search. Create a free LocalJobPage account so new Jacksonville openings reach you between events, and browse every Jacksonville job on the board while you pick your room.

Employers: a booth reaches whoever got through the door that day. Post your openings on LocalJobPage and reach Jacksonville job seekers all fall.