Both students and employers looking for help in meeting their summer employment needs have a couple of options, including the local Human Resource Centre of Canada for Students (HRCC-S), which had its official opening yesterday.
The centre, located at the post office here, helps link employers looking for staff with suitable students who need work.
“They’ve been very helpful in the past,” said Amy Wrigley, administrative assistant of human resources at the Fort Frances and District Association for Community Living.
The FFDACL is looking for a student to help plan recreational activities in the community and to assist with its week-long summer camp.
Wrigley approached the HRCC-S for help because “they do most of the legwork and get the best possible candidate because they get a broad range of applicants,” she said.
Justin DePodesta, the human resources officer for the Rainy River District School Board, also came to the centre’s opening yesterday, looking for students to do some maintenance work.
“Grass cutting, painting, moving equipment. There’s a lot of physical labour,” DePodesta said, adding he needs three students in Fort Frances and two in Atikokan.
“Our office is run by students, for students,” said Diane Oliver, service delivery rep at the HRCC-S here.
This year, Christine Morrisseau and Kerri Langtry—the two summer employment officers who are themselves students—are back for their second year at the resource centre.
As of the grand-opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday, which also was a celebration of the 35th anniversary of the HRCC-S program across Canada, the local centre already had 69 students registered.
Last year, it filled all 163 of the positions they were hiring for. “Community involvement has been a key component of our office’s success,” Oliver said.
Another option in town is Northern Career Development Services (NCDS) across the street from the post office, which offers services similar to those by the HRCC-S.
“Right now is when we get the big boom of students and employers,” said Ria Cuthbertson, summer job services co-ordinator at NCDS.
The NCDS offers a $2/hr. wage subsidy for 64 positions. Cuthbertson stressed it’s up to employers to register early for the subsidy.
In order for the employer to receive the subsidy, the students must be aged 15-24 and must work 24-40 hours a week. Although the subsidy lasts only for 16 weeks, “they’re welcome to keep the students after that,” Cuthbertson said.
Students looking for work fill out an application form there and are encouraged to complete a résumé.
“There’s always people here to help with the résumé and do an amazing job of it,” Cuthbertson said. “I came in here with a crappy résumé and left with a job, so it obviously works.”
Like the HRCC-S, the NCDS offers a number of other services and workshops, all free of charge, including WHMIS training, interview skills, job search techniques, cover letter writing, employer expectation workshops, customer service training, and skills assessment.
They also offer “Smart Serve” training for a fee of $35.
NCDS pre-screens applications, then forwards them to the employers, who then contact the students and set up interviews.
The pre-screening process “offers the employers a good opportunity to talk to somebody about their clients prior to hiring them, as opposed to using a referral,” Cuthbertson said.
“We’ll go as far as we can, above and beyond what you’d expect,” she pledged.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
