Annual job fair returns to Strathmore

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Prospect Human Services hosted their annual job fair in Strathmore at the Travelodge, April 9, aiming to connect hundreds of job seekers with potential employers.

The event is hosted every spring in collaboration with the Town of Strathmore. This year’s event saw 27 participating employers. It was anticipated that approximately 400 job seekers would attend the event throughout the afternoon. 

“We are super thrilled with the turnout. In terms of employers, we had a wait list actually going. I could not accommodate everyone that wanted to be here, just given the size of the venue,” said Erin Fenton, workforce advisor for Prospect Human Services. “This year, at all of our job fairs in the Rocky View-Wheatland region, as well as Calgary, we have been hitting records. There has been record-breaking attendance for all of them.”

Last year, the job fair event in Strathmore attracted 22 employers and approximately 355 job seekers. The goal for next year being to grow by a further 20 per cent. 

Fenton explained the current environment is an employer market. Despite this however, employers are eager to meet prospective hires in person as many are feeling overwhelmed by the number of job seekers applying online, and job application sites not meeting their needs. 

“Indeed, and then through their websites, they are getting a lot of applicants, but HR teams do not have the capacity to manage that load and so these job fairs really allow them to get a sense of who their job seekers are and to connect with them one-on-one, have a quick chat, they take a resume, and then maybe follow up with that job seeker,” she said. “Our employers are finding these very valuable, despite it being the fact that it is an employer market and the number of job seekers has definitely gone up because unemployment has increased.”

Factors attributed to the current employment situation include an increase in migration into Alberta, increased newcomers looking for work, and a surplus of people changing careers.

In-person job fairs also create opportunities for employers to conduct sit-down interviews on site with attractive applicants. 

Inversely, an in-person event may also favour applicants who prefer not to use job application sites such as Indeed. 

Demographics seen at the Strathmore job fair range from teenagers in high school looking for their first jobs to adults looking for a new opportunity.

Employers featured at the event included retailers, food service, first responders, construction, nurseries, aviation, and early childhood education, among others.

Outside of the in-person job fair, Prospect Human Services has an office in Strathmore for job seekers to access during operating hours.

“We also have a lot of online workshops that people can access. This is all at no cost because it is heavily funded by the government. On the employer side, we also provide workshops, training, and we do hiring events like this,” said Fenton. “We do online connectors where we have employers meet with potential job seekers and they talk about their industry, the organization and how they can apply for certain roles that are available.”