Ottawa career fair draws hundreds seeking jobs

With unemployment reaching a nearly decade-long high, hundreds turned out for an Ottawa job fair. CTV’s Dylan Dyson reports.

There were long lines wrapping around the inside of the Rogers Centre Ottawa as hundreds attended a Career Fair Canada event Wednesday.

The job fair offered those looking for work the opportunity to get face to face with recruiters and hiring managers at local employers including OC Transpo, the Department of National Defence, Co-operators, and many others.

Job hunters Alex MacEachern and Grace Embree, who lined up Wednesday with resumes in hand, say the Ottawa job market is frustrating and ultra competitive when it comes to securing employment.

“It’s really difficult, especially online,” says MacEachern who is seeking employment in the administrative field.

“You get ghosted a lot. No one really answers you when you apply. So, I’m not getting no’s, but I’m also not getting a yes.”

The pair of recent graduates say they’ve applied to hundreds of jobs within the past year, with little success.

“Out of all the applications, I’ve heard nothing back,” said Embree, who is looking for work in biochemistry.

“I’ll apply to things that are in my field,” adds MacEachern. “But also, at this point, you need to take what you can get.”

At the end of August, Statistics Canada said Ottawa’s unemployment rate sat at 6.8 percent. Nationally, that number is even higher at 7.1 percent.

The job market is even tougher for young people.

Across Canada between May and August, the unemployment rate for students aged 15 to 24 was 17.9 percent. That was the highest rate since the summer of 2009, excluding 2020 during the pandemic.

Some employers in attendance had as many as 20 openings to fill but say many of the applicants who gave resumes on Wednesday were not qualified for the roles available.

Chris Brum, operations and facilities manager at the Canadian Forces Base Petawawa says the Department of National Defence is looking to hire trades workers such as carpenters, electricians, and plumbers.

“We haven’t been experiencing a lot of the skilled trades coming to our booth,” Brum told CTV News.

“So, it’s definitely my push to try and educate as many people as I can about the benefits of getting into a skilled trade and working for the Government of Canada and the Department of National Defence.”

Brum went on to describe the types of roles many candidates are qualified for, citing the desperation many are feeling to find employment.

“It’s a lot of IT or administration roles and resumes coming through,” he says. “Or, asking ‘What do you have for me? We’ll take anything.’”

In attendance was NORCAT, which provides health and safety training for people looking to change career paths.

“We are seeing a lot of people who are completely changing industries because they’re not able to find employment where they currently are,” said NORCAT representative Cynthie Furlotte.

“It’s just pretty disheartening to spend all that time, you know, I’ve done two degrees technically now and then to have this much struggle to find a job after,” said MacEachern.

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