Villamor Adatan is looking for work.

He was one of thousands who went to a downtown job fair with resume in hand Tuesday.

Fifty-nine booths were manned by employers such as civic agencies, health care groups, and restaurant owners looking to fill 1,300 positions. Interpreters helped to bridge language gaps, job applications were handed out, and computers were set up so people could apply to jobs online.

At times, dozens crowded around a booth, while some employers raised large signs that promoted open positions.

Adatan’s family is from the Philippines. He found himself at the newcomer job fair because his first language isn’t English — it’s American Sign Language — and the fair gave him the rare chance to speak with employers through an interpreter.

Despite having 20 years of experience working with people with disabilities, he was laid off three years ago and has had a hard time finding work.

“I would say it seems that it’s very tough. Maybe it’s because I’m deaf, I find that when I talk to people at these booths, it feels like they’re saying there’s not a lot of positions available for me, they sort of direct me to apply online,” Adatan said through an ASL interpreter.

“It seems that a lot of my options are limited.”

At the booth for Realcare Inc., a private health agency that connects aides with client, Adatan asks questions with the help of an interpreter.

Realcare office manager Diana Stoesz quizzes him about his experience and asks for his resumé.

It’s one of about 30 she had received in less than two hours, she said. It came as a relief after a year of unfilled positions and overworked staff. It’s hard to find good workers, she said, citing high turnover and difficulty bringing people on board.

“I’ll set up six interviews in a day, and maybe one will show up,” she said. “The other five won’t even call.”

Realcare has hired multiple newcomers in the past, including staff who worked as doctors and nurses in their home country and aren’t certified here.

“If we can get one good person, out of all this, it’s worth it,” she said.

People looking for work were lined up outside of the convention centre before the fair opened. A few hours in, there were 3,000 job-seekers.

The response from employers — more wanted to take part, but the fair quickly filled to capacity — reflects a change in what businesses look for in their staff, said Amie Membreno, employment services manager at Immigrant Centre Manitoba who helped organize the fair.

“Some of the employers are just desperate to connect with job-seekers, and so many of the employers (feel that) if your English isn’t that strong, that’s OK. If you look in the workforce today, most people aren’t unilingual anymore. There’s a number of other co-workers or employees who speak multiple languages,” she said.

“So even if your English isn’t at a fluent level yet, as long as you have a co-worker that can fill in the blanks that can help with communication, employers are willing to work with that.”

It’s the first collaborative job fair of its kind in Manitoba. Manitoba Start, Immigrant Centre Manitoba, the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce and other groups got together to plan the event. Many of the attendees had used online portals, which connect employers to workers, launched by the chamber and Economic Development Winnipeg.

The drive is there, Membreno said, employers just have to be ready to bring people on where they’re at.

“I think one of the biggest challenges for newcomers is just the fact that they don’t have a reputation that’s already built in Canada. They don’t have references,” she said. “People don’t know the companies they’ve been working for, maybe their education isn’t recognized here.”

Despite the obvious need of workers and employers, some visitors said they were discouraged.

Temitope Ayodele, who worked as a banker for 10 years in his home country of Nigeria, expected to easily find work when he arrived here four months ago.

Instead, he said, it was “disheartening” to see thousands of people in the same situation as him.

“I’ve been applying and I’ve been turned down a lot of times, and I didn’t expect that,” he said.

He has two children, and his wife’s income can’t keep the family afloat. He’s been forced to burn through his savings just to survive in the city he now calls home. He said his inbox is filled with dozens of rejection emails despite qualifying for the jobs.

“I believe it’s because of the population of people looking for a job, the population is so high,” he said.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Head Start

Weekday Mornings

A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day.

Sign up for Head Start

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

Yomi Awosusi, also from Nigeria, worked in I.T. before coming to Winnipeg seven months ago. He said he was confused to see employers at the job fair that had ignored his applications in the past.

“I’m wondering why” he said. “I’m even ready to come down to the entry-level (positions), but oh well, so good, so we just keep pushing.”

He said he planned to reapply, and had hoped speaking with the employers in person would change the outcome.

“For me, it gives you some glimmer of hope, too, because you need hope all the way,” he said.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Malak Abas
Reporter

Malak Abas is a reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press.

   Read full biography