Thousands of students lined up at a popular annual job fair in Calgary on Tuesday in hopes of finding employment.
Put on by the Calgary Youth Employment Centre, it’s the only hiring fair aimed at youth 15-24.
“It’s the largest event of its kind. We will have over 5,000 job opportunities that will be available for tomorrow,” said Jennifer MacSween, City of Calgary Community Liaison.
Some 90 employers were at the fair accepting resumes and conducting on-the-spot interviews.
WATCH: Jennifer MacSween from the Youth Employment Centre joins Global News Morning Calgary with details on this year’s Youth Hiring Fair being held on April 3 exclusively for youth ages 15-24.
“It’s really important young people come prepared,” MacSween added. “They’re dressed to impress as if they are going in for an interview.”
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Shannon Barry, who was recruiting for the City of Calgary, said for them, the job fair is especially convenient for raising awareness about employment opportunities with the municipality.
“Awareness about the positions we have out there. We do have a protocol, a process that we have in place for all City of Calgary positions that we have and that is to go online,” Barry said.
One of the busiest booths at the fair was set up by the McDonalds fast-food chain, which had young people filling out applications on the spot.
“We have flexible hours and we have lots of draws to McDonald’s, like the 50 per cent off employee discount for everyone. It’s a lot of draw for kids, it’s a good first job,” recruiter Natalya Pawluk said.
For the youth who attended, meeting the potential employers and seeing what opportunities are out there was an encouragement in their search.
“I honestly just want the experience, because getting people skills in a city that has a lot of people really helps,” 16-year-old job seeker Laren Popko said. “Some of them said, ‘Look on the website,’ which kind of seems like they don’t want a lot of people, but most of them have taken my resume.”
“Not only am I hoping for a job itself, but at the least, I hope to just gain some more experience in the whole interview stages and more opportunities,” 15-year-old Vanessa Hansen said.
Last year’s fair attracted over 5,000 young people and 85 employers, MacSween said.
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