CHAT News File Photo

By Chris Brown

March and April

YMCA Employment Centre gearing up for third and fourth drive-thru job fairs

Jan 25, 2021 | 2:32 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – In what could be a sign the job market is picking up, the YMCA Employment Centre will host two drive-thru job fairs for businesses that need workers this spring and will help connect them with job seekers.

The employment centre planned one drive-thru job fair for March 10 and after high demand from businesses added another one on April 21.

“This is a great opportunity for employers to get involved in a cost-free where the committee handles all the logistics,” says manager Jodie Engbert of the employment centre, adding that includes set-up/takedown, promotions and COVID safety concerns like sanitization and traffic flow for proper distancing.

So far, they’ve had interest from health, construction and trades industries, the hospitality retail sectors and others looking for seasonal employees, says Engbert. There are about 10 businesses the centre has heard from so far.

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The deadline for businesses to apply is Feb. 1 at noon.

“We encourage any business that is actively hiring and has positions available for the spring here of 2021 to apply,” Engbert says. “So whether they’re looking for one or for 50, we’ll obviously look at which employers we have available that have applied and we’ll categorize them and schedule them accordingly to make sure that it makes sense.”

The employment centre held its first two drive-thru job fairs in the fall.

The first one had just one business that conducted 220 one-on-one interviews over two days and saw 75 job seekers moved to the next phase of recruitment. The second, a one-day event, had six employers and 50 face-to-face meetings. Of those, 32 candidates moved to the next phase of recruitment.

Engbert says feedback from employers and job seekers after those two was positive.

“They really liked it because the individuals, the job-seekers that came out for their time slot for where they would be at the event, they’re individuals who are really serious about finding employment for that company in particular. So they said this kind of format stops from having the tire kicker that just come pop by say a booth just to talk anybody and everybody present. If they’re making the time to come out and do the COVID self-assessment and go through the drive-thru process, then they must be serious job seekers who are actively looking and motivated to work.”

Find more information and register on the YMCA website.

The YMCA Employment Centre, Medicine Hat College and the provincial community and social services and labour and immigration ministries are partners in the drive-thru job fairs.