Calgary's youth job fair draws 1,000 to Stampede Big Four

Roughly 1,000 young Calgarianslined upoutside the Stampede Big Four Building beginning at 8 a.m. Tuesday, dressed to impress for an on-the-spot interview.

Thehopeful jobseekerswere there to pitch dozens ofpotential employers from a variety of different sectors as part oftheCity of Calgary's 18th annual youth hiring fair, which runs from 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The event aims to connect people ages 15 to 24 who may have limited jobexperience with summer jobs, careerpracticums, part-time and full-time opportunities.

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Bad economy hurts youth job prospects

Jennifer Gee, spokesperson for thecity's Youth Employment Centre, saidtheeconomic downturn has tightened the youth job market in Calgary.

"With more than 80 employers here, youth are taking advantage of the opportunity to make connections that could lead them towards the start of their career."

Gee said the fair usually draws more than 5,000 people, and this year is no exception.

She said this year there are more than 1,000 positions to be filled.

SAITnutrition student Hannah Belischakhopes to land one of them.

"It'll be tough today," she said.

"There are a lot of people out there, and they're all going to be pushing for those jobs, because of the economy right now."

Still, she isoptimistic that her nutrition background willgive her a leg up as she tries to find asummer job in the fitness industry.

Layoffs could improveapplicant pool

RCMPConst. ErikaMcGrattansaid the downturn could be a good thing for potential employers.

In the past, we may have lost a few really good candidates that would've beengreat policeofficersbecause of the influence of their high-paying jobs in the oil field," she said.

"Possibly now with those people losing their jobs, maybe that's giving us a good pool to be able to apply to this type of job."

She said theRCMPistrying to let young people know as early as possible what it takes to be a good police officer.

"We talk about life experiences, volunteering, being arole model in thecommunity,volunteer experiences, leadership skills, things like that," she said.

"If we start getting that in people's minds now, that they need to go out there, go out to the community, do some things that help them be able to be the greatest police officer that they can, then that's fabulous."