Elevate East Valley: Six Cities, One Hiring Event at the Mesa Convention Center September 29

Editor's note (October 2, 2026): This event has passed. For upcoming Mesa hiring events, see our fall 2026 Mesa job fairs guide.

MESA, AZ — For years, hunting for work in the East Valley meant tracking six separate city calendars and hoping the good event was not the one you missed. On Tuesday, September 29, that changes. Mesa is hosting Elevate East Valley, a free hiring event that pools employers from Apache Junction, Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Queen Creek and Tempe, along with ARIZONA@WORK Maricopa County, into one room at the Mesa Convention Center.

One room, six cities, three hours, no cover charge.

In a hurry? Skip straight to the job links and begin searching now →

📍 Event at a Glance

Event	Elevate East Valley Workforce Hiring Event
Date	Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Time	10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Arizona time
Location	Building C, Mesa Convention Center, 201 N. Center St., Mesa, AZ 85201
Cost	Free, for job seekers and for businesses
Registration	None for job seekers, walk in
Who it is for	Job seekers of all experience levels, and businesses wanting a table
Partner cities	Apache Junction, Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Queen Creek, Tempe, plus ARIZONA@WORK Maricopa County
Employers	100-plus, per the City of Mesa. Named list posted on the city's event page; subject to change
Employer tables	[email protected]
Questions	[email protected]

🏆 What Makes This One Different

Most job fairs in the Valley are single-city affairs, and a single city's business roster only goes so deep. The Queen Creek Chamber describes this as the inaugural run of a six-city partnership, which is a meaningfully bigger pool than a Mesa-only event would produce. If you live in Gilbert but would happily commute to a Tempe employer, or you are in Apache Junction and open to anything along the US-60, this is the first event on the local calendar built for exactly that.

It is free for job seekers and free for businesses that want a table. The city is not requiring job seekers to register, so this is a walk-in event. Doors are at 10 a.m. in Building C of the convention center, right in downtown Mesa a short walk from Main Street and the light rail. Full details are on the City of Mesa event calendar.

🔥 Who Should Show Up

The City of Mesa now bills the event as 100-plus East Valley employers hiring now, and it has posted the names it has so far. The city says the lineup is subject to change and that a final list will be handed out on the day.

Public employers are the biggest block on the posted list: the City of Apache Junction, City of Chandler, City of Mesa, Town of Gilbert, Town of Queen Creek, Maricopa County, Queen Creek Unified School District, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the Phoenix Police Department and the Pinal County Sheriff's Office. Health care and in-home care are close behind, with AccentCare, All Ways Caring Home Care, Celerion, DaVita Kidney Care, Firstlight Home Care, Home Care Powered By AUAF, Horizon Health and Wellness, Native Health, Senior Helpers of Gilbert & Chandler, Touchstone Health Services and Ulife Health.

Disability, autism and family services employers include Ability360, the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD), Child Crisis Arizona, Endeavor DDD Services, Reach Family Services, Rite of Passage, The Center for Habilitation, Boys and Girls Clubs and Christian Care Fellowship Square. On the industrial side are AeroSpec Inc., Genuine Machine Products, The Zipper Tubing Company, PCL Industries Services, DCS Contracting, Awake Window & Door Co. and Renewal By Andersen. Customer service and staffing names include IntouchCX, TTEC, Randstad, Talent Corps and Prism Professional Services, and hospitality and food include Chick-fil-A, Whataburger, Delta Hotel by Marriott and Home2 Suites. Also listed: AGS, Arizona Athletic Grounds, Elements Music, FLYS, Jackson Hewitt Tax Services, KeenStack, Keolis Transit, NUCS TEC AZ, Odyssey Services Corp, Overwatch Security Services, PROEM Nation Event Services and SanTrac Technologies.

The city asks job seekers to come in business casual with copies of an updated resume and a 30-second introduction ready.

⚠️ The Honest Picture of the Mesa Job Market

Mesa is not a one-direction story right now, and you should walk in knowing that. The investment wave is real, but so is the pullback in parts of the chip sector. Infineon filed a WARN notice in early August covering roughly 98 positions at its Mesa facility as it shifts some production to foundry partners. So the same city has new plants staffing up and an experienced technical workforce coming loose at the same time.

For a job seeker, that cuts two ways. There is more competition for the good industrial roles from people with directly relevant fab experience. There is also a genuine appetite among the newer manufacturers for exactly that skill set, and a regional hiring event is a faster route to those recruiters than an online application queue.

💵 What It Pays

Arizona's minimum wage is $15.15 an hour in 2026, with a tipped rate of $12.15. Unlike Flagstaff and Tucson, which have their own local ordinances, Mesa has no city rate of its own — the state figure applies across the whole East Valley, so Gilbert, Chandler, Tempe and Queen Creek all sit on the same floor. That makes this one of the rare metros where the address on the offer letter does not change your wage floor.

Practically nothing at an event like this starts at the floor anyway. Warehouse and logistics roles around the East Valley typically post in the $15 to $19 range, with industrial and plant technician work reaching into the low-to-mid $20s. Healthcare support roles such as CNA and medical assistant generally run $17 to $27. Aerospace assembly work at the Boeing tier sits higher still, roughly $20 to $34 depending on experience.

💼 What It Means for Job Seekers

If you are working the East Valley market this fall, this is the one event to build your week around. Roles most likely to be in the room:

Manufacturing and production technicians
Warehouse, logistics and material handling
CNAs, medical assistants and patient support
City and county roles, including public works and parks
Customer service and call center
Retail and food service supervisors
Skilled trades and construction

Bring more printed resumes than you think you need, a photo ID, and any certification or license number you already hold. Write down the name of every recruiter you talk to and follow up inside 48 hours, because that follow-up is where most of the actual hiring happens.

🔎 Start Searching Now

Do not wait until the 29th to start. Openings across Mesa and the East Valley are posted daily:

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Elevate East Valley hiring event free?

Yes, for job seekers and for businesses that want a table. There is no admission charge and no ticket.

Do I need to register to attend?

No. The City of Mesa says job seekers do not need to register, so plan on walking in. Businesses that want a table should email [email protected]. General questions go to [email protected].

Where exactly is it?

Building C of the Mesa Convention Center, 201 N. Center St. in downtown Mesa. It is a separate building from the main hall, so give yourself a few extra minutes to find it.

Do I have to live in Mesa to attend?

No. The whole point of the event is that six East Valley cities are participating. Residents of Apache Junction, Chandler, Gilbert, Queen Creek and Tempe are just as much the audience as Mesa residents.

Which employers will be there?

The City of Mesa bills it as 100-plus employers and has posted a named list that includes the City of Mesa, the Phoenix Police Department, Maricopa County, DaVita Kidney Care, Chick-fil-A, TTEC and dozens more, listed above. The city says the lineup may change and a final list will be available on the day.

What else is coming up this fall?

ASU holds its Polytechnic Career and Opportunity Fair on November 3 at the Polytechnic campus on E. Williams Field Road, though that one is aimed at ASU students and alumni. ARIZONA@WORK typically posts single-employer hiring events only a few weeks ahead, so more East Valley dates will surface in late September and October.

Three Hours Is Not Long

Decide before you go which four or five employers you actually want to talk to, and treat the rest as a bonus. Create a free LocalJobPage account so new East Valley openings reach you between events, and browse the Career Center for role-by-role guidance.

Employers: a table on September 29 reaches the people who walked in that morning. Post your openings on LocalJobPage and reach Mesa job seekers every day of the fall.