Two upcoming virtual job fairs in Toronto will help tackle some of the challenges businesses are facing today with labour shortages, particularly in the retail, hospitality and food services industries.
The Virtual Retail Job Fair will take place October 26 followed by the Virtual Hospitality and Food Service Industry Job Fair on October 27.
Veronica Simic, Community Development Officer, Youth Employment Partnerships & Employment Connections, Social Development, Finance & Administration, Youth Development Unit with the City of Toronto, said both job fairs are dedicated to providing employment and career opportunities for young people in the City of Toronto between the ages of 16-29 years old who are interested in entering the workforce, developing their skills, and potentially pursuing careers in those industries.
“It’s being facilitated through a platform called Hellohire which is a local Toronto organization that provides speed interviews that allows more than thousands and thousands of people on the platform at once. It basically mimics an in-person job fair that would be set up as a table setting but virtually,” said Simic.
“The reasons behind holding the virtual job fairs is to provide opportunities for young job seekers who are connected to or live in the City of Toronto and connecting them directly to employers. It bypasses the resume aspect and it also really provides the young people and the employers an opportunity to engage with each other and learn about each other and have that direct contact . . . It provides that meet and greet opportunity, allows for questions and an interview to be facilitated and for next steps to be provided by the employer.”
For over 20 years the City of Toronto has partnered with experts in the field of retail and received outstanding support from the Youth Employment Partnerships’ (YEP) network of not-for-profit Youth Employment Agencies to provide an exclusive Retail Job Fair for youth ages 16-29 years seeking career and seasonal opportunities in the Retail Sector.
This year, Hospitality Workers Training Center has partnered with the City of Toronto and Youth Employment Partnerships’ (YEP) network of not-for-profit Youth Employment Agencies to provide an exclusive Virtual Hospitality and Food Service Industry Job Fair for youth ages 16-29 years seeking career and seasonal opportunities in the Hospitality Sector.
Pre-registration is required for the Retail Job Fair with an option to upload your resume. Registration can take place here: https://tryhellohire.com/events/retail-job-fair-2022-1
The same with the Hospitality and Food Service Job Fair with registration here: https://tryhellohire.com/events/hospitality-and-food-job-fair-2022-1
Employers interested in registering for the Retail Job Fair can do so here:
https://tryhellohire.com/events/retail-job-fair-2022-1
Employers interested in registering for the Hospitality and Food Service Industry Job Fair can do so here: https://tryhellohire.com/events/hospitality-and-food-job-fair-2022-1
“The virtual platform, any type of job fair, really allows the employer to get direct connection to interested job seekers and to find out potentially interesting trends and barriers that might be restricting a job seeker from obtaining employment and really be able to understand that from a job seeker’s perspective as well the opportunity to be introduced to a huge candidate pool that they might not be introduced to otherwise,” said Simic.
“The Youth Development Unit and these job fairs are dedicated towards providing workforce development and career opportunities and even entry-level job positions for job seekers 16 to 29 which is a very broad age range. And the employers get to connect with and hire talent in terms of entry-level positions that could potentially lead into career transition and build their workforce and really invest in young people in their professional development and career development.”
