ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — An Illinois agency that helps protect kids made a stop in Rockford on Monday in hopes of recruiting some help.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) held an on-the-spot hiring event. A little more than 400 people showed up to the event.

DCFS recruiters were on hand to answer questions. The agency was looking for child welfare and child protections specialists. Someone who signed on Monday will be training in 4-6 weeks, the agency said.

An organizer said there were a couple of reasons that they held the hiring event.

“We talked to folks about applying for a job at the state and with DCFS, and there were two things we really heard back from them,” said Jassen Strokosch, chief of staff for DCFS. “One, they wanted to find a way to do it more quickly and all in one place so they could get it all over with, and the other thing was they had a lot of questions of the job and they wanted to talk face to face with people who have done the job before and had experience and could learn more about it. It’s a very unique job working for DCFS.”

DCFS currently employs just over 3,100 people, the highest number of staff the department has seen in 15 years.