Wendy Sauschlager spent 33 years working for the Hudson’s Bay Company in Toronto before being laid off and knows all too well how hard it is to find a second career.
Having recently moved to this area, she's looking for work again and she's hoping her experience will stand out at a job fair on Thursday in Innisfil.
"I think it's difficult when you reach the 50 plus stage, it's not so easy, you don't have the same education,” says Sauschlager. “When I worked at HBC, you went from department to department. You learned as you went along, you didn't go to school and get the education."
Sauschlager wasn't alone. More than 200 people went through the fair in the first hour alone. There were 250 positions up for grabs at Thursday's job fair, and representatives with the Town of Innisfil say many of those positions will be filled with people applying at the fair.
There were 40 different companies searching for possible employees, something town officials call “encouraging”.
"I think the economy locally is getting stronger and that means employers are looking at opportunities to expand their operations and that means as they expand obviously we need a larger work force," says Innisfil CAO, John Skorobohacz.
It's not just Innisfil. Karli Timpano is with Manpower, a hiring agency in Barrie. She says the job market in our region, is positive. She says many companies are hiring full and part-time time positions.
“With our particular employers that reach out to us, you're looking at anything between finance, accounting, a lot of manufacturing and a lot of skilled trades as well," says Timpano.
However Sauschlager says the way for job seekers to stand out from the crowd is to get out there, and go to job fairs.
"A piece of paper is a piece of paper, but when you talk to somebody you get to know them and see them, you can tell whether that's the right fit,” says Sauschlager.
