McBride Career Group moves to old RBC building

Miriam Ostermann

Times Associate Editor

 

The return of hundreds of job seekers, end of Employment Insurance (EI) payments looming, and a lack of space played decisive factors in the McBride Career Groups relocation of offices to the old Royal Bank of Canada building on Main Street.
Over 400 visits are being logged at the centre each month and as EI packages are starting to run out and the number of people applying for EI is increasing, the staff were required to adapt their positions to include more counselling. With the influx in people requiring the career group’s services, the organization began searching for a new space in December to allow for an expansion and program growth – a swelling concern where the organization was forced to turn people away from workshops due to lack of space.
“The extra space will allow us the opportunity to develop new programs and offer additional services, which, in this current economy and job market have become very much needed,” said Michelle Fox Salim, project manager for McBride Career Group. “We’ve got clients coming in who are unfortunately still looking for work, and they’ve been unemployed for a while and need our help. A lot of the survival jobs get snatched up so fast, but we have clients they’re coming up on a year that they’ve been looking for work. The mood is low; it’s a stressful time. Our services right now are needed more than ever.”
According to data collected by the provincial government, Alberta’s unemployment rate ballooned to 7.9 per cent for February 2016, in contrast to 5.4 per cent during the same month last year.
The McBride Career Group offers one-on-one career counselling, resume help, workshops, group workshops, and job fairs.
By moving into the downtown core, the organization remains optimistic that more people will become aware of the services available in Strathmore.
“There’s always a stigma,” Fox-Salim said. “We’ve heard people say they don’t want to be seen walking into a career centre. Now more than ever it’s important to come in. My fear is that people are sitting at home and they are depressed and they don’t know the first steps to take in their job search.”
The McBride Career Group’s staff of seven moved into their new location at 202 2nd Avenue on April 1, and plan on hosting an open house at their grand opening in the near future.