YORKTON — The Yorkton Tribal Council is hosting a job fair at the Flexihall in the Gallagher Centre this week.
The event aims to bring together local businesses and prospective employees in an effort to boost employment opportunities for First Nations and the wider community.
Jessica Chopping, Labour Force Development Coordinator for the Yorkton Tribal Council, said the event has been months in the making.
"We've been preparing for the last couple of months on this job fair. We wanted to bring all Yorkton businesses together," said Chopping.
With 24 booths representing industries such as construction, mining, administration, security and education, organizers aimed to cover every aspect of the job field.
"There was a lot of planning because we wanted every aspect of the job field covered—if you want a birth certificate, status card—any help with all that, it's all here ready to go," said Chopping.
The fair offers on-the-spot resume assistance and on-the-job interviewing, in hopes of facilitating immediate employment opportunities.
"We just wanted to get more employment for the First Nations," said Chopping.
The initiative has been a collaborative effort within the Yorkton Tribal Council's education department, said career advisor Mike Keshane.
"It's been in the planning stages for a few months. Our whole education department has been working together on this," said Keshane.
Beyond providing information, the event offers interview booths for employers, allowing participants a chance to secure a job by the end of the event.
"We wanted it to be more than just coming together for information, but we also wanted to set up these interview booths so that the employers that are here could do interviews and hopefully some of our participants could walk away employed," said Keshane.
The fair, which runs until 3:00 p.m. today and from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on May 29, is open to all job seekers but is particularly geared toward Indigenous Peoples.
"It's kind of open to everyone but at the same time it's geared towards Indigenous Peoples," said Keshane.
He hopes the fair will help attendees find careers suited to their skills and aspirations.
"We want to help everyone find the career that they're looking for. With the education department we do a lot of training for people and help them to find the job that's fitting for them, hopefully," he said.
Encouraging community participation, Keshane urged job seekers to take advantage of the resources available.
"I would like to invite everyone. A lot of people don't feel like they're adequate but if they would come here, we're making resumes right on the spot, we're helping with identification," said Keshane, adding, "if someone may need help getting to where they want to get, it's important that they come here so we can help them."
As the fair continues, organizers hope to see strong participation and positive employment outcomes.
"It's very important and I sure hope we can put one on next year," said Chopping, adding, "we'll see how it goes this year, but it seems to be going good."
