It seems Thompson isn't as immune as it is sometimes touted to be from economic problems facing the world - at least it seemed that way for students looking for employment in the city this summer.
The Service Canada Centre for Youth, located on Station Road in Thompson, offers help to students and youth looking for job opportunities during the months of May, June, July and August. The centre had a student employee appreciation barbecue on the same day it closed for the year on Aug. 14. The centre helped 17 students create resumes this summer, helped students look at job postings, provided them with casual labour program registration information and employer information and informed them about job postings. It also made sure the students were familiar with things such as child work permits and employment standards.
Amanda Sanders, who has spent the summer working at the centre, says although she had a lot of kids coming in looking for work, she didn't have many jobs to tell them about. She says this has been the case in Thompson for the last two years.
"I think partly it's the recession, but also partly because some employers must have had bad experiences with hiring students, because more places used to hire young people and they're not doing that as much anymore," she explains. "I know a lot of people who stayed where they went to school because they couldn't guarantee themselves a job in Thompson."
A total of nine casual jobs and 12 casual positions were registered by employers at the centre. A child as young as 10-years-old came into the centre trying to find a job, but Sanders says the average age was typically students aged 13 to 17. Despite this, she says most employers are only looking to hire students as young as 15 or 16-years-old.
Sanders says its disappointing that some employers seem to be wary of hiring students, since most of the kids she worked with had good attitudes and work ethics.
"Hiring students is easy because they're willing to work. You just have to be able to accommodate their schooling, that's pretty much it."
Sanders knows first hand how difficult it is to find a job as a student, being one herself who is enrolled in university in Nova Scotia.
"It definitely makes me grateful that I got a job, because a lot of people were in the same situation as me. My resume was pretty much out there for everybody to see. I put my name in for so many jobs and luckily I got a call back, but a lot of people didn't."
Sanders says the one message she has for employers is to take a chance on hiring a student, claiming the majority of them are a responsible, hard-working bunch here in the North.
