Job fair helps students in need of work

By: Kyle Goodhue

A job fair on Sept. 28 held at Place Concorde brings businesses and students together to help find students work.

The fair, hosted by Windsor Business Networks featured 16 Ontario businesses. They set up booths where employees could meet with students.

A section of the event was reserved for interviews where employers could speak more privately with potential hires. The event was the first of its kind to be hosted by Nancy Tessier, the owner of Windsor Business Networks.

“It started with the idea of posting a job, one single job that I could not resist telling people about. I’d post it on our Facebook page and from that I got more and more requests for more and more jobs. And now it’s several hours a day of posting jobs. The job fair grew from that, the desire to see more people working,” said Tessier.

Students were told to come to the event dressed for success and with their resume ready. While job experience may be important, many employers at the event said they wanted employees with good character and dedication to their work. Jonathon Azzopardi, president of Laval International, said more than anything he is looking for employees who are in it for the long run.

“If you’re going to get into this industry, it’s a lifelong,” said Azzopardi. “We’re looking for someone looking for a lifelong career, not someone looking to take it on for a short term and move on, because we hire to move them through the ranks.”

Many students go into interviews looking to sell their resume, and their past work. However, Javier Andres Bernal, a sales manager for Sun Life Financial, said he is looking for more than just a great resume.

“People have to be able to talk about themselves more than their resume. The resume shows what they’ve been studying and what they’ve done before, but they need to think about themselves, how they can help, how they can improve the company, and what can they bring to the company,” said Bernal.

Many employers who attended the job fair stressed the importance of the character of potential hires. Bernal said a common mistake people make during the interview process is not focusing enough on themselves and what they bring.

“The resume is the education and the work experience, but how can they, with their personality, say something that is not on the resume to sell to someone like me, that they are the right person,” said Bernal.

According to a report from Workforce Canada, Windsor’s unemployment rate dropped to 8.9 from 10.4 per cent in January. Since August it has dropped another 1.5 per cent. Tessier said she’s pleased with the turnout of employers and students who attended the fair.

“It’s a huge kick for me to watch people working, watch people grow and know that even if it is just a tiny little bit, I contributed to that,” said Tessier.