Tough times in Alberta? Fugetaboutit, say many students looking for jobs at a career fair at NAIT Tuesday.
As hundreds of graduate students poured into the gymnasium looking for jobs, some say they’ve already had offers from many employers at a time when lots of companies are scaling back because of tough economic times.
“Right now, there’s too much of a demand for people in quality assurance,” said Chris Stevens, a 19-year-old mechanical engineering student at NAIT.
“We’re pretty diversified in what we can do when we graduate. There are plenty of opportunities for us.”
Terry Luhoway, a student employment adviser at NAIT, says the shaky economy has yet to create an effect in the job market for students once they graduate and the school is still telling students to sell themselves — no different than when times were better.
“We are telling students that there is no downturn in the economy because we haven’t seen it,” said Luhoway.
“We still have 30 to 40 job postings a day, even in this month of January. There are 400 jobs available right now in our postings system from employers.”
Many employers at the fair, including ConocoPhillips Canada, say they’re still looking to fill positions, but companies have already began scaling back their push to attract more workers.
“We’ve had to scale back, but there are still a few positions available,” said Bob Nadon who works in human resources with ConocoPhillips.
