Employers come to students at Holy Spirit job fair

By Mark Squibb \ May 12, 2023

Holy Spirit High students had a chance to apply for a summer job last week without even leaving the school grounds.

The Rotary Northeast Avalon, in partnership with Holy Spirit High Interact Club, hosted the first annual Rotary Job Fair last Thursday.

“Students could apply for jobs and make contacts,” explained incoming Interact president and Grade 11 student Leah Casey. “It was a really great opportunity for our students, because it can be intimidating to come into a workplace and ask to speak with a manager. But this way, you were able to speak with people who are hiring for summer jobs right now.”

Thirteen employers, ranging from Tech NL, the Conservation Corps, Youth Ventures, the Town of CBS, and retail stores such as Starbucks met with students and accepted resumes.

“There was a whole host of different employers,” said Casey. “Anyone could find something they were interested in.”

Casey, who has an interest in the environmental sciences, had applied for positions with the Conservation Corps and the Manuel River’s Interpretation Centre prior to the fair. Both of those organizations had a booth at the fair.

For a number of years, the Rotary Club has sponsored a career fair at the school during winter months. Last week’s job fair, which is designed to complement the career fair, not replace it, differed significantly.

“The career fair is more of an opportunity for students to speak with professionals in different industries and different jobs, and this is an opportunity for students to apply for those jobs,” said Casey.

Rob Boychuk, president of the Rotary Club of Avalon Northeast, said the spring job fair is a logical follow up to the winter’s career fair.

“For the career fair we invite occupational practitioners to come in and meet with students and educate students about different types of careers that they may be interested in,” said Boychuk. “The next logical step was, once students find out about careers, to bring in employers who they could meet with to get experience interacting with employers, because a lot of students don’t have that experience, and they may be shy or are not used to in-person interviewing, so it’s a good opportunity to learn that skill.”

Boychuk said he’s glad how the event went over.

“I think it went really well,” said Boychuck. “We had 13 employers participate, and each one of them I think would agree that it was beneficial… My aim for next year is to get 20 or 25.”

Along with the annual career fair, he hopes the job fair will become an annual event.