With Canada still recovering from the economic recession, one would expect fewer opportunities in the employment sector. Yet the Career Expo that the Career Centre held on October 27 managed to attract approximately 50 employers from diverse corporations—even in the face of a damaged economy.
Approximately 650 students attended the fair, which marked a significant increase from previous years. The large turnout was particularly the success of our strong marketing aside from the regular poster-based advertising. The Career Centre was able to reach students via a variety of new methods such as videos, Career Expo handouts in lectures and the use of social-networking sites as Twitter and Jimmy on Facebook, said Claire Westgate, the Career Centres coordinator of events and employer services, adding that the academic departments helped students plan their careers by forwarding the centres e-mails on academic program-specific career opportunities at the expo via the UTORmail system.
Among the major corporations that advertised their career opportunities at the Career Expo were Service Canada, Canada Revenue Agency, Canadian Forces, Celestica, City of Mississauga, ManuLife Securities, RBC Life Insurance, TD Canada Trust and GoodLife Fitness.
Stephanie Perrin, one of the representatives interviewed at the Service Canada station, which recruits students to positions in the federal, finance, transportation, health and other Government of Canada departments, said that she did not have many recent opportunities to advertise.
Most job positions were already taken earlier in the year as that is when most of the students are trying to find sources of funding and employment. Students should be aware of the employment trends and that most of the governments student recruitment occurs in the summer sessions. Students need to plan ahead, said Perrin.
Aside from the employers, there was also a variety of professional associations, such as Human Resources Professional Association, Certified Management Accountants of Ontario and Certified General Accountants of Ontario.
According to Melissa McCuaig, from the Human Resources Professional Association professional associations mostly exist to monitor rules and regulations and spread awareness of the latest trends in various professions such as human resources or accountancy. The HPRA received remarkable participation from the UTM campus; it received more membership requests at the expo than any of the previous ones that McCuaig attended.
Fourth-year Mahviah Mirz was impressed by the Career Centre and the Career Expo.
I was never aware of the breadth of different events organized by the Career Centre, along with personalized career counseling and employment advising. The information provided by the centre is really helpful and acts as a useful on-campus resource to help upper-year students like me to start thinking of our careers before we graduate, said Mirza.
