As soon as the doors opened Wednesday at noon, hundreds of people walked into Jobing.com Arena looking for work. Tanger Outlet Center is opening a mall later this year. There are more than 900 jobs to fill.

Monica Jimenez fills out a job application Wednesday. (Photo by Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez - KJZZ)

NADINE ARROYO RODRIGUEZ: The Tanger Outlet Center use to operate the outlet mall in Casa Grande. But this job fair is for its new venture in Glendale. The mall is located near the 101 in the Westgate shopping center. It’s set to open in mid-November for the holiday season with more than 80 retail stores. Retailers are offering full and part-time jobs, from managers to cashier. Jessica Reeves is the mall’s General Manager. She says the goal is to put West Valley residents back to work.

JESSICA REEVES: Tanger Outlet Westgate stores are hiring immediately. They have a lot of training to do to be open in time for Nov. 15. So, a lot of the people they’re interviewing today will be brought onboard right away.

ARROYO RODRIGUEZ: And that what makes people like Andrea Santos very happy. She’s a college student looking for work to help pay for school. Santos says with nearly a thousand jobs available she’s feeling confident.

 ANDREA SANTOS: It feels kind of good, 'cuz it gives us hope that there are jobs out there and that the unemployment rate will lower a bit. So, I’m kind of hoping for the best.

ARROYO RODRIGUEZ: At last count Arizona’s unemployment rate was about 8.3 percent. More than one percent lower than the same time last year.