Cambrian College hosts largest career fair in northern Ont.

Thousands of students were at Sudbury’s Cambrian College on Tuesday for Day 2 of the Career Fair Conference.

The event sees more than 130 businesses and organizations from across the north and other parts of the province attend to meet prospective employees.

“It’s an opportunity to give our students the chance to network and meet with future employers in our community,” said Andrew Dale, manager of career development and student success at Cambrian.

Businesses included Vale, Greater Sudbury Police Service, Health Sciences North, the Rainbow District School Board and the Palladino Auto Group.

“Naturally in northern Ontario, mining, construction, health care are major players in our campus college here,” Dale said.

Great employers

“But they are all over the map. There’s government that’s here, there’s not-for-profit, there’s accounting and banking.”

“There’s a lot of great employers here,” said Cambrian student Eric Mumford, who is in his final year of the industrial millwright program.

“I think all of us are interested in Glencore and Vale, for sure … I’m pretty interested in Algoma Steel. And then there’s a few other ones that I’ve been looking at around here that I’m going to drop a few resumes off.”

Brianna Hotson, a second-year social work student, said she’s hoping to secure a job in correctional facilities or help people on probation.

“I’m currently running the ‘Stand Up for Social Justice’ program with Cambrian College,” Hotson said.

“I came to look around for a different part-time and full-time opportunity, as well. I’m doing that until I graduate. I’ve talked to quite a few booths and vendors now and it’s going well.”

Marissa Holla, director of human resources for Palladino Auto Group, said they find great candidates each year at the fair -- 15 to 20 Cambrian alumni have worked at Palladino.

Lots of job candidates

“We find that the business, accounting, marketing, organizational development programs … provide us with an incredibly wide (number) of candidates that are really great for the roles that we have,” Holla said.

“In addition … we have a lot of automotive technicians that graduate out of the trade school and end up within our dealerships in our service departments.”

Motti Lal is the top sales agent at Palladino and is a Cambrian College graduate. He immigrated to Canada in 2018 to take business administration.

Lal said the person he was then is very different than who he is now.

“I was not a people person -- let’s say that I was very introverted. So I was not talking much or anything,” he said.

“Cambrian taught me how to talk to people. The business skills, the communication skills, the marketing skills. So, it all helped me to build what I am doing right now.”

Cambrian estimates between 2,500 to 3,000 students attended the career fair and that it grows every year.