Thursday, March 20, 2008

Job fair opens doors for education students




















By Ryan Ross

The UPEI education job fair gives students a lot of opportunities, says the fair’s education coordinator.
Basil Favaro, an education professor, is one of three coordinators from the university who helped organize the annual event.
Favaro said the 33 school boards and recruiting agencies who attended the fair gave students the opportunity to meet boards looking to hire.
“We’re into helping students.”
The fair was held at the Rodd Charlottetown Feb. 5-6 with school boards from across Canada, Korea, United Kingdom, China and Japan.
Other universities in the Maritimes have their own job fairs but UPEI’s is unique because it is open to everyone, Favaro said.
He said about 50 job-seekers came from off-Island because they didn’t have their own.
“They really appreciate that this fair was open to all education grads.”
Mamdouh Elgharib, a career development specialist at UPEI and one of the fair’s coordinators, said there were hundreds of jobs available.
Although they don’t know the total number for hirings, he estimated about 100 interviews were done over the two days.
“Contracts were signed yesterday.”
And some of those contracts were for jobs in Fort McMurray where the starting salary is $70,000, he said.
The starting salary on P.E.I. is $45,000.
“It’s a good incentive,” he said.
Elgharib said one of the recruiters for Fort McMurray was a UPEI graduate who was hired at the fair two years ago and is now the vice principal at her school.
“Here’s an example of what could happen.”
Favaro said the fair has grown since the first year when they had about 25 school boards.
Even though they could use a bigger space, the fair is always held at the Rodd Charlottetown because the boards appreciate the classiness of the hotel, instead of having it in a gym like other job fairs, he said.
Favaro said they now set a limit because one year they had over 50 boards and couldn’t fit everyone.
“The venue can accommodate so many.”
This year was the first time the fair was held during the week instead of on a weekend because some of the boards were involved in another job fair the same week, he said.
Favaro said they will try and bring it back to the weekend next year.
“Overall the boards were very pleased.”

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