Applicants looking for flexible work as Montreal job fair offers thousands of unfilled positions

Thousands of job seekers will make their way through the National Job Fair at the Olympic Stadium over the next two days, looking for a position that’s a perfect fit.

Rita Tafankejian came to Montreal from France on an open work permit, and is looking for a job that will allow her to stay in Canada. She has a master’s degree in international project management.

While she’d like to find something in her field, she also wants to make sure her next job suits her lifestyle.

“I am looking to be happy in my job and have a good quality of life,” she said.

The fair’s organizer, Daniel Levesque, says there’s a good chance Tafankejian will find what she's looking for because these days it’s an “employee's market.”

“It's incredible the possibilities that people can get today because there is adaptation from the employers to the employee's needs, and accommodations of all kinds,” he said. “It’s crazy, we’ve never seen that before.”

Levesque has been running the fair for more than 10 years and has noticed a lot of changes in what job seekers are seeking.

He says many are putting their personal needs first and are looking for perks, like the flexibility to work from home.

The fair features more than 300 employers who are looking to fill around 10,000 job positions.

Surveying the hundreds of recruitment booths, it’s easy to see how the labour shortage is affecting several hard-hit industries, including retail, restaurants, engineering, and aeronautics.

“My God, it's kind of all sectors, and that's something we’ve never seen.”

The Dorval-based aviation company Innotech-Execaire said it’s experiencing rapid growth and is now tasked with filling around 60 positions.

“We’re looking for aircraft refuellers, maintenance, engineers, mechanics, and lots of opportunities in terms of aircraft painters as well,” said Francesco Mancini, a recruiter for Innotech-Execaire Aviation Group.

RECRUITING OUTSIDE OF MONTREAL

There’s also a big push at the fair to entice people to move to other regions of Quebec.

“It's a big challenge to tell Montreal people, ‘Hey come to the regions to work for us, we have great opportunities,’ and they're like, ‘Oh,' they did not think about it," David Dupuis of Accor Hotels, which recruits for Sofitel and Fairmont hotels across the province.

Recruiters from other provinces are also making their pitch, hoping to attract some bilingual candidates.

The city of Cornwall, Ont., about 120 kilometres west of Montreal, has been coming to the fair for years. Kevin Lajoie, a tourism officer with Cornwall’s Economic Development Office, says employers in his city are looking for workers in areas such as health care, manufacturing, and food distribution.

He adds they often have success recruiting in Montreal.

“I think one of the key things that resonate with people is the quality of life is a little more laid back in Cornwall, transportation is easier, there’s more affordable housing, and a beautiful lifestyle right by the St-Lawrence River," Lajoie said.

The National Job Fair, as well as its sister Education Fair and Study Abroad fairs, are free and will continue for its second and final day Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

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