The Comfort Inn in Kingston’s north end was positively bustling with activity Thursday as the Greater Kingston Chamber of Commerce tried to stimulate the job market with a hiring summit.
“I want a more stable, comfortable job,” said William Hume, who was among the masses of jobseekers.
The 30-year-old Hume is a freelance video editor, but he says these days that just isn’t cutting it.
He says he found out about the hiring summit online and decided to try his luck alongside the 500-plus other people who pre-registered for the event.
“Video editing, especially online, is highly competitive and I’m very good at it, but it also can be exhausting,” he said.
Much like Hume, 55-year-old Donna Welch was also seeking a career change.
She was one of many in the long lineup for the Department of National Defence booth.
Welch believes part of the labour shortage is on the jobseekers.
“Some of them don’t want to work. They say they do and then they don’t show up or call in,” Welch said.
On the other side of the table is the employers.
Steve Wallace is co-owner of Luce Hair Studio, which has three locations in Kingston.
While getting your hair cut is always in fashion, lately it’s been the hours that have been getting cut.
Wallace said he and his business partner recently decided to trim down the hours at the downtown location simply because they can’t staff it.
“Ever since COVID, it has been impossible to hire qualified people. That’s the key, is that we need to hire somebody who is in the process of being licensed, or are already licensed,” Wallace said.
He said that over the course of the past few years, he feels the personal service industry has been left behind when it comes to government supports, which has now found him having to take a closer look at the bottom line.
“There’s no help whatsoever. So, we have to ride it out. We have to do our best to monitor hours,” he added.
With the gaps in the job market still glaring down business owners, the chamber of commerce says these hiring summits will be bi-annual events, in hopes of re-stimulating local business.