The Big Four Building at Stampede Park is expected to be bustling again Thursday afternoon as young job seekers file in to meet prospective employers.
Some 4500 jobs are up for grabs as the 24th annual youth hiring fair returns as an in-person event, put on by the City of Calgary’s Youth Employment Centre.
88 employers took the city up on the opportunity to recruit new talent, targeting young people ages 15-24.
“We sold out several weeks ago and up until yesterday were still receiving phone calls from employers wanting to come to the fair,” said spokesperson Christina David.
With Calgary’s unemployment rate still sitting at around eight per cent this year, and job shortfalls impacting many industries, it’s expected to be a welcomed event for networking.
“The youth unemployment rate is usually a lot higher than the average unemployment rate,” said David. “We know that there are lots of young people looking for employement and with the number of employers we have here today it’s a strong market for young people to be looking for work now with the volume of positions now and the variety of positions.”
The city said this year over half of the employers are new to the event.
“We haven’t seen so much variety in terms of social services, recreation, construction and some industries that we have never had before have tapped into our services,” said David.
The job fair runs from 1:30-6 p.m. Thursday.