REGINA - There were lots of employers, and job seekers, on hand for a career fair hosted by the Saskatchewan government on Wednesday.
The career fair, which ran between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Queensbury Convention Centre in Regina, included 80 employers from ten different sectors representing fields such as agriculture, construction, large manufacturers, transportation, the hospitality industry, telecommunications and others.
The employers there included such names as the government of Saskatchewan, SaskTel, Brandt Industries, REAL District, and Nutrien to name a few. They were seeking professionals, skilled trades, and other workers for the jobs they had available.
This fair was open to all jobs seekers but was specifically targeted to Ukrainians, including the latest arrivals to the province who landed in Regina last Monday.
The event was attended by Immigration and Career Training Minister Jeremy Harrison, and Martensville-Warman MLA Terry Jenson. Harrison in particular said he was impressed by the turnout of employers and job seekers.
“We’ve seen a very good uptake. There are folks here from kind of every walk of life, I think, and taking advantage of the opportunity with employers — 80 employers here — who are looking to fill job vacancies,” said Harrison.
“It’s really encouraging that we have this sort of turnout that we do. From employers we’ve heard very, very good feedback about employers hired in previous fairs and are looking forward to this one as well.”
Harrison noted there were challenges seen in the economy in that “we are creating more jobs than we have people to fill those jobs, and that really is reflected in a tangible way here with the employers who have literally hundreds of jobs that they’re attempting to hire for.”
The minister also said he was “heartened as well to see the number of Ukrainians here looking to immediately enter the labour market, the labour force and find employment so shortly after arriving from Ukraine.
“I actually ran into a number of folks who I was able to greet when they got off the plane a few days ago and it’s really a gratifying thing to see drivers licenses being issued, health cards being issued, all of the things a lot of people take for granted.”
