(LAS VEGAS CBS KXNT)   A job fair sounds like a place where opportunity might be lurking, but  it can be just another disappointment for the unemployed.

Some of the attendees at a North Las Vegas event on Monday were less than bowled over by the range of opportunities, noting that about a third of the exhibitors were educational institutions poised to recruit discouraged job seekers as new students.

Karen, a part-time cashier who did not want to give her last name, is also feeling generally beaten down by her search for full-time work.

“I moved here seven years ago, and when I moved here the paper was this thick with jobs,” Karen held up a hand with a good-sized space between the thumb and index finger.  “It only took  a month to get a job. Now it’s not the case.”

Karen was pitched by the Avon representatives, who boasted that for only ten dollars, she can invest in a starter kist and launch her own business selling cosmetics.  She wasn’t buying it.

“That seems like a part-time job,” she said.

But Avon District Manager Lisa Knight told KXNT she started out just looking to earn spare cash selling to co-workers on her lunch break. Now, she’s a full-time employee with the company and a mentor to hundreds of independent sales reps.

“We’re a 126-year old company,” Knight said, but added “it’s not your mama’s Avon.”

Other sales-oriented recruiters were looking for people to do collections and to sell insurance or financial services.