Career Options

Sixty job openings are listed at the federally funded centre.

Student job centre opens

Even before the place officially opened, Meg Newman was at the Service Canada Centre for Youth looking for a job.

AMANDA ROBINSON
[ 2007-05-26 ]

Send to a friend
Print
Do you know your strengths, weaknesses and best job fits?
To find out, take this test by eCareerFit, the career assessment experts.

© 2007 Jupiterimages Corporation

"A friend of mine brought me here yesterday, so I decided to come back today," Newman, 24, said yesterday at the centre's grand opening in Galleria London.

Newman, a University of Western Ontario student, is looking for her first summer job, which she hopes to combine with an existing job at a restaurant.

"I'm looking for something supplemental because there's not much to do in the summer," she said.

She hopes to land a job working with the developmentally challenged.


April Whalley, 22, lead youth services officer for the centre, said jobs are there -- youth just have to look.

"So far we have 60 vacancies, and that's just for the first three weeks," she said.

The posted jobs are for day-camp counsellors, administration, general labour and landscaping.

The centre, federally funded, opened May 7, but held a ribbon-cutting yesterday to open the doors to the public and let people know it's up and running.

There are about 300 of the centres in Canada, but this is the first in London.

London MP Glen Pearson said opening the centre shows youth employment is a priority to Canadians.

"We've just gone through a number of months when the summer youth program looked like it was going to be cancelled," the Liberal MP said.

"(The opening of the centre) reminds students this is still a society that understands their importance."

For free, the centre helps students with resumes and cover letters and interview skills. It also holds health and safety workshops.

"I can't tell you how many times I've seen resumes with spelling errors," said London West MP Sue Barnes. "First impressions do make a difference."

London-Fanshawe MP Irene Mathyssen said the centre gives students a starting point for job-seeking.

"There's a lot of students who are finishing school now . . . not knowing where to start, it becomes a mad scramble," she said.

But the NDP MP said she's concerned for students because of a $4-million cut to a federal program that subsidized student hiring.

---

SERVICE CANADA CENTRE FOR YOUTH


Where: First floor of Galleria London, across from Central Library.

Hours: Until the end of June, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m to 4 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Phone: 519-645-5503.

Internet: For job postings, visit www.jobbank.gc.ca



Send to a friend     Print