Ski-themed job fair draws hundreds

With hundreds of hopefuls attending, the annual winter jobs fair, held at Cascade Plaza on Thursday (Oct. 4) was a big success.

Hosted by Banff’s Job Resource Centre, company director Michel Dufresne spoke about the event.

“We’ve been doing career fairs and ski fairs since the early ’90s – this one we must have done about 15 times,” he said. “It’s been really popular in the last five years – we attract about 400 people.”

About a dozen businesses and organizations were present, with the most popular overwhelmingly being Sunshine.

“We have most of the large ski areas, from Kananaskis to Blue River, they hire the most employees in the season,” said Dufresne. “Sunshine’s very popular, probably because of their proximity to town.

“Last year we did a check, and there were about 200 people got placed with the fair,” he added. “There are jobs for anything from cook to chairlift attendant, electricians, gondola operators, ski instructors, daycare workers.

“Fairmont is also here – they’re a big part of the ski industry – they’re the largest hotel in the area and the largest employer.”

John Thornton, representing Mt. Norquay, said the turnout was excellent.

“This is a great adjunct to our other recruiting programs,” he said. “We do our best to provide a great workplace for our employees, a safe workplace,” added Thornton. “Norquay’s close to Banff and makes it easy to commute, the size of the organization makes it easy to know everybody.”

The smaller operation of Michael Wiegele Helicopter Skiing, based in Blue River, B.C., was also on hand.

“We’ve met a lot of really good applicants and things look really promising from our day here,” said Rui Dykeman, speaking for the company.

MWHS was hiring about 30 people for a dozen different positions, he said.

“I’d say we’re close to 80 applications,” said Dykeman. “It’s great to get out and see some of the competition and see some of the new people coming into the community.”

Other organizations, like Banff Heritage Tourism, were there to provide services to newcomers in the community.

“We run the Banff Ambassador Program, with is an orientation program for local staff here in Banff,” said John Bowden of BHT. “We do this so that people can learn all about the history of the park, things to do in the wintertime, how to stay safe and how to make the most of their time, with the ultimate goal of creating passionate, inspired ambassadors for our destination, in turn helping improve our visitor experience.”