THUNDER BAY, ON  -- December 23, 2008  --  Jim Peterson of Ambassadors North-West came up with the idea of a festive job fare over the Christmas holidays to help businesses in need of talent. Specifically he wanted to target former city residents who out migrated for education and for work. Assisted by The Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce, the event held at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium was a real success. There were some great business minds behind this project, and everything that could be done to make an impression on returning residents was done. The choice of venue, the hors d’oeurves and canapés and even some of the city’s own Persians contributed to a unique impression only Thunder Bay could offer. I arrived at 1 p.m. and the parking lot at the auditorium was well on its way to being half full.

I saw people I knew who had been laid off from the pulp and paper mills, but others were home the holidays and checking out the job fair. One young lady told me “I still want to work out of town for awhile, but I would like to come back sometime soon.”

There were over 30 exhibitors at the career fest, and many positions were for those in the health field. Kathryn MacIsaac of St. Elizabeth Health care was looking for RN’s as well as RPN’s, but there was also a need for people to take seniors out for a little light shopping, drop off their prescriptions, and do a little light house keeping. The point is not all the positions require advanced qualifications. St. Elizabeth Health Care is a not for profit organization that is integrated with the Regional Health Care Sciences group aiming to improve the transition of patients from the hospital to the community. The use of youthful representatives at many of these exhibits was exactly the right thing to do. Young professionals returning home can see that other young people are holding great jobs right here in our city.

Here Pia Hirvas Kiistila represents Grant Thorton and Company. There are a lot of accounting positions open in the city, as are positions for realtors, lawyers and legal secretaries. I guess this goes to show there is a need for a law school in our neck of the woods.

A representative of the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce told me that there were close to 250 positions open at this career festival. According to Jim Peterson filling those positions can realize some serious economic benefit for the city, perhaps as much as ten million dollars in added payroll that gets spent in our city. Having the trained people in place will help businesses grow their business plans, and when they generate more business they also generate more work. This is a win win situation for the city.

Also present at the job fest was the native business community. The Nisnabwe-Aski Police service was represented by Jackie George; Dilico was also represented, as was the first nations airline Wasaya.  The city had a booth looking for new recruits for the fire department among other positions.  Again you do not need to have a PhD in order to apply for some of these jobs.

While some come for jobs, others will come to a community for the economic opportunity. Kris Mork of Thunder Bay’s Community Economic Development seeks to assist those who would like to develop new business in the city.

Was the Career Festival a Success? I suppose the answer to that will be the number of people hired as a result of the Career Festival. One thing is certain, the targeted market was reached, and when they come home next year they will be sought after again. This is the kind of public appeal that can be grown on the success of previous efforts. The Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce has every reason to be satisfied with this event. They will discuss and analyze the Career Fest and it will come back again stronger better and bigger than before. The Chamber of Commerce and their partners have shown that they can present a first class event, the active participation of so many exhibitors shows that they have high hopes for developing their business in the city. At the very least the Career Fest gives local business another tool to find new talent. And for now they seem eager to use it.
There are companies looking for help that have a low public profile. Actlabs is such a company looking for workers who are willing to sign a contract for a minimum one year of employment with them. Automate now is another company looking for the technically enabled to help automate controlled processes, like the cities new water plant. The exposure they get by participating in the Career Fest just makes good business sense. For the visitors to the Career Fest I am sure they will have a Merry Christmas, but some of them will have a happy and prosperous new year.

Bert Rowson
LakeSuperiorNews.com