Timing for career fair just right, participant said

By Morgan Davy

Katie Riddell, Belleville, attended the Quinte Region Career and Training Fair on October 2.

BELLEVILLE – The Quinte Region Career and Training Fair was a welcome opportunity for some Belleville residents looking for a job.

Karen Poste, manager of economic development for Belleville, has been a part of the fair’s organization team for almost 10 years. She said the event, which took place on Oct. 2.,  is all about connecting people.

“It’s a great way to help our employers find the labor they need and help laborers find a match in terms of an employer.”

Katie Riddell, a Belleville native, says the fair came at a crucial time in her life, as she was laid off in early September.

“I had been with the company for almost 17 years and unfortunately they decided they wanted to downsize in my specific area,” she said.

Riddell, 46, says her employer plans to fill her sales position with a bilingual worker with a higher level of schooling.

“Someone said to me that yes, I had 17 years of experience, but that doesn’t mean anything, you’ve got to have the education behind it,” she said.

Riddell says sales was not what she originally intended to do with her life.

“I went through college for hospitality, and I had grand ideals of moving to Vancouver and working for the Empress Hotel on the island. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any direction and it turned out it wasn’t what I wanted to do. After a few jobs in hospitality, I fell into the sales position I was in for 17 years,” she said.

Like many other small cities in Ontario, Belleville’s population rose by just one per cent from 2006 to 2011, according to Statistics Canada.

Poste says in order to improve this number, young people need to think ahead.

“It all relates to the skill set that you acquire when you are away. When you go to college or university with the view of coming back to your community, you really need to understand where the job opportunities are and then pursue the education that gets you those jobs. They are going away and getting educated, but not in the skill sets that we need here in our community.”

Organizers of the career fair have teamed up with education officials to help improve Belleville’s economic infrastructure.

“We work with the school boards through the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program, we work very closely with the college. We work with our employers as well to find out what they are going to need over the next five to ten years. We make sure that the school board and guidance councilors know where those jobs are so they can gear their programs to prepare graduates,” she said.

Riddell says although she is going through a difficult time, she knows she has options.

“They’re bringing in McKesson to Trenton, or there’s a new call center for people to work at. You’ve got to keep those options in mind when you need to go out and look for a job.”

Poste says it’s important for everyone to take advantage of the opportunities the career fair presents.

“We have these twice a year and they are free for everyone. We encourage anyone out there in the Quinte region looking for work to contact us and come to the next one in the spring.”