Local residents gathered at the Scarborough Civic Centre on Jan. 31 for a job fair hosted by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB).
Many people seemed hopeful as they handed out resumés and filled in job applications.
Oscar Chimenti, project administrator at the Scarborough Centre for Employment Accessibility at the TDSB, was expecting this event to be the largest job fair so far.
“We had 1,500 people pre-register to attend,” Chimenti said. “I think we’ve probably met that number. We’re expecting up to probably 2,000 people to maybe come through here.”
Chimenti said that more people attended this event than any job fair before.
“This is the most that have ever pre-registered,” Chimenti said. “In the past we’ve had maybe 700-800 people.”
According to Chimenti, the fair caters to everyone in Scarborough.
“It’s a Diversity Job Fair, so we’re focusing on people with disabilities, newcomers, youth and the general public,” he said. “I think that it captures a different audience where a lot more people are interested in coming out and seeing who’s here and what we can offer them.”
Human resource recruiter for Paragon Security, Sibsankar Baidya, says events like these often generate a lot of interest for the company.
“After every job fair, we usually get really good resumés,” Baidya said. “Today I received more than 30 good ones.”
Baiyda said Paragon Security is always invited to fairs by the TDSB and the city of Toronto because they hire a lot of people.
Chimenti is a strong believer that job fairs are effective.
“I think it’s a good venue for people to meet one-on-one with employers face-to-face, you’re not just sending your resumé into outer space and hoping that somebody sees it,” Chimenti said.
“At job fairs you can actually connect with employers so I think it’s beneficial and it has helped me in the past.”
