Job seeker activity increases

Melissa Strle
Times Reporter

 

McBride Career Group, which offers career and employment services, will be hosting a job fair at its office in downtown Strathmore on Sept. 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
This job fair comes on the heels of a summer in which job seekers were more active than last summer.
According to McBride Career Group career coach Gaylene Smith, summer is typically a slower time in the job search market. She said many children are at home in the summer, so instead of the cost of daycare, many parents hold off a job search until children are back in school in September.
“This summer it slowed down a little bit, but nothing compared to the summer before,” said Smith, adding she has seen changes in the workforce. “We are having a lot of moms returning back to the workforce because dads may not be making the same amount, or dad was [working in] oil and gas and [got] laid off.”
Youth are also present in the job market. After graduating from high school, they are taking a gap year and trying to figure out what they want to do and trying to find some employment to fundraise for college said Smith.
September is typically one of the busier months at McBride, and Cassi Morris, administrative assistant at McBride, said things are starting to pick up.
“The only issue is a lot of the job postings are not in the field a lot of our clientele are in,” said Morris. “It’s not a lot of oil and gas which is what Strathmore is built on. Most of our clientele is oil and gas but a lot of our job postings are more retail. Landscaping is also a big one this year.”
For this reason, Smith said, “It’s really important that we help the clients identify transferable skills – skills that they can take from one industry and apply to another industry.”
Smith said there has been a notable decrease in jobs available this year. However, “forestry and agricultural are still pretty strong, so there’s usually work in that.” Hospitality is another area that continues to remain strong.
McBride started offering a brand new program this year: the Targeted Initiative for Older Workers (TIOW), with the motto “experience counts.”
The program offers a focused curriculum, including computer skills, personal development skills, resume building, cover letters and job search for people between the ages of 55 and 64. The program is offered in small classes and runs for six weeks at no cost.
“We keep the class really small and that way everyone gets the focus that they need. The students have a large say in what they need and what they want,” said Smith. “Older workers are still very active looking for work or wanting work.”
McBride employs coaches who provide one-on-one assistance and more help. Itinerant coach Deirdre MacLean travels to outlying communities including Chestermere, Langdon, Standard, Hussar, Gleichen and Siksika, and provides all the same services one-on-one in the communities.
McBride also offers services to employers and sets up career fairs and private job fairs. It recently set up a job fair for Dollar Tree, accepting application forms and resumes.
McBride moved into its new larger space at 202 – 2nd Ave in April 2016, and this allows it to bid on new programs and increase the number of people that come for job fairs.
The job fair on Sep. 13 will feature information and programs available from recruitment officers from the Department of National Defense, the RCMP, Bow Valley College and Foothills Immigration Services. The rest of the fair will be more employment related and some employers will include Walmart, McDonalds, H&R Block and Strathmore NEXT.
McBride has been in business since 1987. It operates in Strathmore, Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, High River and Okotoks. It is provincially and federally funded and offers all services at no cost to clients.