INDIANAPOLIS -- Thousands of people flocked to the what organizers said was the Indianapolis Private Industry Council's largest-ever job fair at Conseco Fieldhouse on Thursday. Thursday's attendance -- about 3,000 -- was a record for the fifth annual event, which featured more than 100 employers looking to fill 3,640 jobs. A wide range of jobs -- including those for cooks and chemists -- were featured.

The booth for Honda Manufacturing of Indiana was one of the busiest. Honda will need 2,000 people to fill production jobs at its new Greensburg plant, which opens in October 2008. Honda will start taking applications for those positions Sunday at www.indiana.honda.com. Applicants must live in one of 20 Indiana counties: Bartholomew, Brown, Dearborn, Decatur, Fayette, Franklin, Hancock, Henry, Jackson, Jefferson, Jennings, Johnson, Marion, Ohio, Ripley, Rush, Shelby, Switzerland, Union and Wayne. Honda said it wants its workers to have no more than a 60-minute commute for safety reasons. Although large companies like Honda attract a lot of interest, U.S. Senator Evan Bayh said small businesses are the real job-makers in Indiana.

"Ninety-seven percent of the businesses in our state have 100 employees or fewer," Bayh said. "And this is important: 80 percent of all the new jobs that we create are created by small businesses." Bayh is pushing legislation that would double the federal funding for small businesses in Indiana.

Some of the fair's attendee's told 6News' Tanya Spencer it was a great way to network in a competitive job market.

"It's rough," recent college graduate LaToya Collins said. "You go into school thinking that you'll have a job already since you have a degree, but that's just not the case these days."

A spokesperson for the IPIC said the state's economy is healthy. The group's research shows some of the fastest-growing industries in Indiana are biotech; healthcare; construction; retail and hospitality; and advanced manufacturing. Job opening featured at the fair are posted at www.indyjobfair.org.

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