A job fair for several hundred vacancies at area universities drew enough applicants to fill four times the open position.

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Some 2,000 District residents poured into George Washington University's student center looking for work Wednesday.

Terrie Fletcher has spent the last year trying to get a job.

“I have a 16-year-old to raise and you know its hard -- living with my mom, lost my car. It's really rough,” she said.

She and others waited in line for more than an hour for a few seconds in front of recruiters.

Alvin Deese called the situation "very, very competitive because you have hundreds of people applying for just one job.”

“Who you know, what you know, being at the right place at the right times, quality skills, because you only have .5 seconds to make that first impression,” said Deandre Jackson.

The job fair was put together by D.C.’s employment services department and the city's universities. Together the universities, including GW, Howard, American and Catholic, UDC and Georgetown, are looking to fill some 500 positions in various employment fields.

“The jobs range from professors and instructors to maintenance to cafeteria to healthcare technicians in the hospitals so the range is very broad,” said Hugh Bailey of the D.C. department of employment services.

Parts of the District are still reeling from the recession: Parts of Wards 7 and 8 have unemployment rates near 25 percent.

Fletcher is trying to stay optimistic. “It gets frustrating, but you just have to have a positive attitude and you can’t get down,” she said.