Hundreds of local high school students flocked to the second annual C-K Career Fair on Thursday, held at the St. Clair College Thames Campus Healthplex.
More than 50 businesses and organizations had displays set up, as students toured through the fair.
“It’s interesting, there is lots of stuff you can do,” said Cameron Dube, a Grade 10 student from École secondaire de Pain Court.
Ryan Swackhammer, also in Grade 10 at Pain Court, said he was surprised by the vast amount of options available after high school.
“There are a lot more programs than I thought in college … I had no idea,” he said. “I’m thinking about going to Sarnia to be a police officer. I got some information from the (Chatham-Kent Police Service) here at the fair.”
Rosemary Montgomery, small business consultant for the Chatham-Kent Small Business Centre, was among the 50-plus groups set up at the fair.
“It has been very busy, lots of traffic, lots of inquiries,” she said. “I think there is going to be a lot of people following up, looking into the Summer Company program. We get to get the word out about operating a business as opposed to working for someone else … be your own boss.”
Kristy Jacobs, project co-ordinator for the Chatham-Kent Workforce Planning Board, said the career fair is an excellent way to inform the public about opportunities.
“It’s an opportunity for students, job seekers and the general public to come out and learn about the types of careers that exist in Chatham-Kent,” she said. “The first year was quite a success … we had about 50 employers and about 1,000 students come through. We brought in some community speakers to talk about different aspects of job search and career exploration and social media and how to work that with your job search.”
Jacobs said the goal for the board is to educate more people about the types of careers in C-K.
“Some people think of Chatham-Kent and they may think we are agricultural, you may think we are manufacturing… but there is a wealth of really cool and interesting jobs that are out there that lots of people don’t know about,” she said. “Our ultimate goal is that they go get that education then come back and work in Chatham-Kent.”
For more information on the Workforce Planning Board, visit http://www.ckworkforcedev.com/.
