Employed and unemployed alike flocked to the St. Catharines Job Gym on Tuesday in the hopes of landing one of roughly 35 positions at Lakeside Steel. As more than 500 applied a line stretched down the street for most of the day.
Upwards of 500 individuals flocked to the St. Catharines Job Gym on Tuesday, lining up around the block, for a shot at one of 30 to 35 new employment opportunities at Lakeside Steel. The gym served as host to a job fair for the Welland steel pipe and tubing manufacturer in the hopes of finding candidates for labourer, millwright and electrician openings.
“When I got here at 7 a.m. we probably had 300 people lined up outside,” said Job Gym human resources director Kim Shennan, explaining that the gym held the fair from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Throughout the day candidates filled out questionnaires screening them for proper qualifications. Those found to have the necessary experience were then granted interviews with Lakeside representatives in the hopes of landing a follow up interview in the coming week.
“Manufacturing jobs in Niagara are hard to come by,” said Shennan, explaining the high turnout.
She noted that Lakeside, rather than holding the fair in Welland, decided on the centralized location of St. Catharines in the hopes of reaching more possible candidates.
“The skill set for this type of work in Niagara is huge,” said Shennan, noting the steel company has a large labour pool to draw from. According to Shennan the day saw both the unemployed and employed turning out in the hopes of finding better, more stable employment.
Ryan Lafleur of Welland made the trek to St. Catharines to line up outside the Job Gym in the hopes of finding a better job. Currently he works in sheet metal production, but only does that job because he can’t find work in his field of expertise, carpentry.
“The job situation around here is pretty slow,” he noted as he waited in line.
Welland’s Blair Tessier was laid off from Claire’s Logistics a few months ago as that company scaled back its warehouse operations as a result of the John Deere plant closure in Welland.
“If you do go looking, a lot of places ask for an online application,” he said. Tessier said he remained hopeful as he waited in line.
“All of my friends went out west,” said Tessier, noting that job prospects for a forklift operator trained in shipping and receiving would be better elsewhere in the country.
“I got family and a girlfriend here,” he said, explaining his choice to tough it out in Niagara.
Source: Niagara This Week