WESTLOCK — The Westlock and District Chamber of Commerce is partnering with area schools and post-secondary organizations to bring a trade show and career fair to the community in April.
Chamber president Graeme Harrington said planning for the first-time event began several weeks ago and expanded to include R.F. Staples School (RFS), St. Mary School (SMS) and Barrhead Composite High School (BCHS) for a trade show and career fair in the Rotary Spirit Centre fieldhouse April 26.
In addition, other post-secondary institutions and organizations are also partners in the event including Careers Next Generation, the University of Alberta and the Educational Liaison Association of Alberta (ELAA), a group of 29 colleges, universities, and organizations like the Canadian Forces Recruitment Centre, that travel together to promote post-secondary programs in the province.
“We had talked about it in board meetings and at the last members meeting (in January) we talked about starting a business trade show or doing something like that,” said Harrington at the Feb. 21 chamber meeting. “There were some really good ideas, we had a good round table discussion about it. The idea being an exhibition of our local businesses (with) displays, booths, and demonstrations to show off your businesses and make it a public event.”
Hundreds of students in Grades 10 to 12 from RFS, SMS and BCHS are expected to attend the event to learn about schools and programs and speak with local businesses about summer job opportunities in the area.
“We’ll be targeting senior high students and hopefully giving them an opportunity to network with local business and industry and in some cases even apply for positions,” said R.F. Staples school counsellor Maurice St. Denis. “For some of those local businesses it could present an opportunity to promote some of the employment opportunities over the summer and for students graduating, into the fall.”
Although this is the first collaboration trade show with the chamber, St. Denis noted that up to 2017, the school division hosted an annual career fair through GROWTH Alberta, that alternated between Barrhead and Westlock.
“I think it’s all about retention and about connecting a young, skilled future workforce that are in secondary school with local industry and businesses so that our students understand that they don’t have to necessarily move away to begin a career,” explained St. Denis. “Or that if they have to move away for the purposes of post-secondary, they can always come back afterwards. There’s all sorts of opportunities in the Westlock area regardless of what their goals are. We’ve got all sorts of different professionals that work in this community.”
Although some of the finer details have yet to be worked out, including times, Harrington said they expect the event to run into the early evening. The idea for the event was well received among the chamber’s 75 members as many have participated in similar past events.
“It’s a chance for businesses to tell the community and student body who you are, what you do, what you offer. It’s a really good opportunity to showcase the variety of business that we have here in Westlock and in the community,” said Harrington. “We’re excited and we’re looking forward to giving it a shot.”
