The Thunder Bay business community wants to permanently lure back some ex-pats visiting for the holidays with some job offers.
Ambassadors Northwest and the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce are holding their second annual Holiday Career Festival, Dec. 23 at the Community Auditorium, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
With the promise of more than 100 jobs available, event organizers were hoping to encourage as many as 35 private and public sector institutions to set up booths.
“This is the only time of the year everyone is here at once,” said Jim Peterson, the event's founder and a member of Ambassadors Northwest, a group of local business leaders working to bring new business to the city as well as retain local talent.
Peterson came up with the idea after attending weddings during the summer and listening to young people, who had graduated and moved elsewhere, complain about the lack of jobs in Thunder Bay. Many had the perception that forestry mill closures were impacting the entire local economy.
Though his business contacts, he discovered many law and accounting firms were having a tough time on the recruiting trail.
“People who aren't from Thunder Bay don't want to live here, and people that are from Thunder Bay don't think there are any jobs here.”
To help get the word out about this year's event, organizers strung a banner in the baggage claim area of the airport.
Based on his business contacts, Peterson says there are as many as 200 openings at local engineering firms, banks, law firms, institutions such as Confederation College and police agencies, including the City of Thunder Bay.
“The Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute is in hiring mode for the next couple of years,” said Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Harold Wilson.
A new diagnostic imaging company, Tornado Medical Systems is looking to staff up to 50 employees within 18 months and to expand its workforce beyond that.
The career festival organizers are appealing to a wide age demographic.
“It's for anybody who wants to move back to Thunder Bay,” said Peterson, who calls it a “talent meets needs” event set in a relaxed and informal atmosphere.
There may be entry-level jobs available for graduating post-secondary students or for senior managers. It's designed mostly for people to make that initial contact, exchange business cards and size up potential employees and employers. For laid off forestry workers, it's a chance to get face time with heads of companies.
In Peterson's case, it was an opportunity to see what local businesses are for sale. Peterson previously worked as a structural engineer for the former Peterson + Habib Consultants Inc.
When development work in the U.S. didn't pan out, he returned to Thunder Bay. Rather than start up his own engineering firm, he wanted more of a turnkey business. Peterson was organizing last year's event when he got wind of a company for sale.
The owner of A to Z Rental Sales and Service wanted to retire and was looking to sell his business to someone with experience.
Peterson took over the company last June and has expanded it beyond equipment rentals to include party tents and a full-line of catering needs.
“It's a learning curve for us but if this works out well it would be something that can become definitely annual,” said Wilson. “It's an interesting concept.”
Wilson is a Thunder Bay native who returned home last August after a stint as executive director of the Economic Development Alliance of Southeast Alberta in Medicine Hat.
Admission is free for companies to set up a booth providing they have employment openings within six months.
“It's not about promoting your business, but being able to offer a job on the spot,” said Peterson, who estimates as many as 10 people landed jobs stemming from last year's event, including two who were hired immediately.
Peterson said, “if we can get five or six families moving back to Thunder Bay, I think we've done our job.”
