By Pam Wright
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
When it comes to her future, Riya Deo is looking at all the angles.
The Grade 10 Chatham-Kent Secondary School student has a broad range of jobs in her sights and she’s hard at it, doing the footwork to forge her career path.
“I’m exploring skilled trades, but also looking at jobs in the health care and medical fields,” Deo told The Voice, adding she enjoys investigating the options.
Deo was among the 1,434 people who poured through the doors at the Bradley Centre March 5 to check out the possibilities at Chatham-Kent’s Job Fair and Career.
Matt Keech, employment and social services program manager for the municipality, said the event was a resounding success.
A total of 85 exhibitors set up booths, he added, with some employers hiring people or providing volunteer opportunities right on the spot. Others were able to sign up for apprenticeships.
Attendees were able to hand out resumes and connect with a host of businesses and agencies that are hiring – or will be in the near future.
Organized by the municipality’s Employer and Social Services department, the fair was part of a number of C-K Workforce Week initiatives.
According to Deo, she doesn’t feel limited in her choices. She’s already taking a Manufacturing Technology course at school, covering a slew of skills, from spot welding to creating computerized drawings with AutoCAD.
At the job fair, she was among the curious who checked out the new Skills Ontario tech trailer, trying her hand at techniques, including simulated autobody painting.
The smiling teen said the hands-on stuff is a lot of fun.
“I’m already on it,” said Deo of her future. “I love it, I really do.”
The Ontario Skills trailer was a popular draw at the job fair. Based in Pain Court, the 42-foot trailer is available to travel to events across the region, giving job seekers a taste of some of the things they could be doing if they take up a trade.
Randy Mackenzie, who is part of the local Skills Ontario trailer team, points out that there are more than 140 skilled trade options in Ontario and 300 in Canada.
A former employee of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent in water and wastewater and a Class A truck driver, Mackenzie said he wishes something like the trailer was available when he was starting out as a young man.
“If this trailer was around when I was in high school, I would absolutely have a different story to be telling you,” Mackenzie said. “We are showing them, particularly high school students, some of the skilled trades that are in high demand.”
Skills Ontario is a non-profit agency supported by the provincial government, according to Hayley Mackay, truck and tech program manager for the organization. She said a total of 1,000 people went through the trailer last week in Chatham, noting interest is high.
“Some of these skilled trades we are showing are also transferrable skills,” Mackay said. “For example, welding. Welding is something you can do as a career in itself but other skilled trades, such as a mechanic, may use it too.”
Skills Ontario currently has three trucks available to cover events in Southwestern Ontario.
