It’s been a long three years for Bruce Arbtin.

The 47-year-old spent much of his career in construction and since management. But then, like millions of others around the country, he became victim to the dwindling economy. He was picked up by one of the company’s contractors after being laid off, but that opportunity soon ended, as well. Family health issues worsened the problems, and Arbtin hasn’t been able to focus solely on finding a new job, but he is starting to look harder.

Arbtin’s story was no rarity among those who attended the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce job fair Tuesday. Flanked on all sides by a convoy of brand new Lexus cars in the Bellevue showroom where the fair was held, more than 200 people danced from booth to booth looking to find employment at a variety of companies. Banks, car companies, Bellevue College and a few small retailers made up the crowd of employers, many of whom were looking to hire.

Travis Brown, business development manager for Kelly Services, a company that matches job seekers and employers, said things are finally starting to look up. Kelly Services searched for people in a number of areas Tuesday, including office administration, sales, finance and information technology. Brown has seen more companies coming to Kelly Services and hiring more full-time, permanent employees than in the past few years.

“2012 has started off as a very good year,” Brown said. “I do really feel like people are gearing up and seeing the end of the tunnel.”

It became clear quickly to employers that Bellevue has no shortage of people looking for jobs. Throughout the six-hour session, most booths had a line of multiple people waiting to hand off resumes. One representative said he handed out nearly 150 business cards at the event.

Bellevue resident Michele Sweet collected plenty of business cards throughout the day. Sweet has bounced between work and stay-at-home parenting with a husband in the military. She spent 12 years working with Nordstrom, and has been a substitute teacher with the Bellevue School District as well. With one child in college, and another one heading in that direction, finances dictated that Sweet needed to get back to work.

Sweet’s preferred to work customer service, which is exactly what Key Bank was looking for. The company plans to open and expand several new branches in the area, and was looking for people to fill out the new locations.

For Arbtin, who had several promising conversations with employers, the fair was helpful. But it’s impossible to say how good things turned out, until the phone starts ringing.

“It’s one thing to go and talk to a lot of people and smile back and forth, but it’s hard to say (how helpful the fair was) unless jobs actually come out of it.”