Hundreds of people jammed into the career fair at the Alberni Athletic Hall on Tuesday, delighting organizers from both the AV Employment Centre and Nuu-chah-nulth Employment and Training Program (NETP).
“It exceeded our expectations,” AVEC’s Bill Brown said.
“We prepared 520 of the hiring bags for people to walk around with and they were gone by 12 p.m.,” he said. “We had to do more photocopying.
“The employers’ response was incredible this time,” he added. “The feedback so far from employers and participants is really good.”
“I think it’s extremely awesome,” NETP intake coordinator Leisa Hassall said. “We had people busting through the doors 10 minutes before we were supposed to open at 9 a.m.”
Hassall said the variety in ages of people bringing in their resumés—from students to mature employees—was a positive aspect to the fair. “That’s an amazing way to show how diverse Port Alberni is,” she said.
Leanne Ruissen, general manager at the Mark’s store in Port Alberni, said she received a good stack of resumés from people.
She has two potential positions coming up (employees looking to move) and “it’s always nice to see the people in person.”
Sarah Ozog from Western Forest Products was promoting the forestry company’s First Nations partnerships with NETP. “We’ve had seven people trained and employed” through that partnership, she added.
Jean Wylie from NETP echoed Ozog, saying they appreciate the relationship they enjoy with Western Forest Products. “We look forward to continuing,” she said.
Sheena Falconer from West Coast Aquatic was looking to hire four summer students for fisheries monitoring and stream assessment, and said the fair kept her busy all day.
“This is such a good turnout,” she said during a break in speaking with potential employees.
“That’s why we come. We’ve got some great resumés.”
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