The job fair in the Estevan Shoppers Mall saw many industries participate, but still dominating the event with a healthy representation of tables was the oilfield.
Several energy companies were at the job fair next to other businesses like the school board, and health care and communications. Many of those find it hard to compete for jobs with the energy sector running so strong, but that just encourages them to be more aggressive in their recruiting process.
Estevan Daycare Co-op board member Maeribeth Sullivan was manning a table on the weekend and noted the organization's need to find some new people.
"We are having a staffing crisis, so we're hoping to get some bites."
The daycare has been dealing with a tightening of employees for several months now.
"We have had, since last September, we've had issues. It just kept escalating," said Sullivan. "We had an emergency board meeting because we really are quite tight. We have a couple of gals going off on maternity leave, a couple of last minute things that have transpired. We did what we could to kind of adjust some wages and make ourselves-we'll never compete with the oilfield-but make ourselves as competitive as possible."
Canyon Technical Services also set up a booth at a Bruins game a few weeks ago, so Lil Boulding, a recruiter for Canyon out of Red Deer, said they have been heavily recruiting for some time. There is always a big push to recruit at this time of year in particular because there is a lot of work to do once the snow leaves and that can be a tough time to predict.
"I just was in Medicine Hat on Wednesday, at the Medicine Hat College career fair," said Boulding. "We're going to Grande Prairie next week, so yeah, it is important that we're there and let people know that we do have some opportunities available, and it is not just opportunities but career opportunities."
The daycare also attended a job fair at the Estevan Comprehensive School.
"We've had some interest. It's definitely been worthwhile. Anybody you meet who takes your card is a potential (employee), and we've definitely connected with a few different people over the last couple of days."
Sullivan noted that they are ready to hire immediately. She said that applicants don't have to have all the qualifications, because there are courses offered locally at the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology where the costs will be reimbursed by the government.
"Anyone that has a passion. We have a girl now who is in high school. She's taking all her courses and getting them paid for by the government while working. She's incredibly motivated, but she's going to finish with an education that's paid for and great experience. There's opportunity here in working with children."
The job fair wasn't just for companies to sell themselves, but also an opportunity for job seekers to find out exactly what is available now. Mike Parisien, who was unemployed going into the weekend, left the mall Saturday with a new job.
"These things actually, really work. I walk inside, I'm here for 20 minutes and in that time I've got a new job," he said.
The process for him was simple, as employers are as eager as employees in finding each other.
"I walked up and down, talked to some people, showed them my tickets and the next thing I know, I've got a new job."
Boulding noted the stresses companies like Canyon face each year when certain milestones on the calendar are reached.
"We're very fortunate that at this particular time of the year, we have been able to find our Class 1 drivers, but we now want them for spring breakup, so we are going to have to accept some classified drivers and we're going to have to train them up to Class 1 drivers. They operate this big equipment, but they have to drive it to these locations. We have a great program to train those classifieds up to that level.
"That will be a big emphasis come spring, looking for those people and getting our training programs going at a 110 miles an hour."
Boulding added that this is something they have to deal with every year.
"If you had a magic wand to understand when spring breakup's going to be over, well you could just gear up, but it seems like all of a sudden that key turns in the lock and holy smokes, it seems everybody's going 100 miles an hour."
She said they recruit locally for their bases, but reach across the country to find labour, noting that they bring people in on a rotation from both the West and East Coasts, as well as recruiting in the United Kingdom.
