School District 43 is hiring again and new strategies are needed to get a pool of top talent.
On Thursday, Nov. 29 from 6 to 8 p.m., SD43 will host a career fair with presentations and breakout sessions to attract workers for all types of jobs — from teachers to trades.
It’s a method SD43’s human resources department is using to generate awareness that the district, the third largest in B.C., is a good place to work, said Randy Manhas, while getting a jump on new recruits that other districts are clamoring for.
“It’s about sharing about our district, the different types of opportunities that we have and us broadening our pool of people when jobs do come up, we have a captive audience already,” said Manhas, the district’s executive director for HR, who said attendees at Winslow Centre will be able to leave their contact information to receive notifications when the district has positions available in their areas of interest.
There will also be speakers and an overview of jobs and benefits of working for the district.
Job fair organizer Nadine Tambellini, who is district principal for human resources, said the district learned from experience in hosting an information session for University of BC students that a more in-depth session was a good way of sharing information and so a larger event was planned.
The idea is to give potential workers in all areas an understanding of the district, its mission, the community and how the hiring process works, she said.
And like many other industries looking for workers, SD43 is looking for the best and the brightest among new recruits from colleges and universities.
The job picture has changed in recent years since a Supreme Court ruling in 2017 that reinstated the teachers’ collective agreement.
Now, school districts need more teachers to meet class size and composition requirements.
As well, the number of students with identified special needs is growing, requiring more education assistants, and SD43 also needs trades people and clerical workers, too.
This year, the district hired 207 FTE (full-time equivalent) teachers to meet the requirements of the new court ruling on top of regular staffing.
And while those positions were all filled, Manhas said the district needs to replenish its pool of substitute teachers and education assistants who fill in when people are sick or on leave. “I feel we are in better shape than we’ve been in a long time,” Manhas said.
However, a bad bout of the flu could change the district’s position at any time, making a pool of substitute workers necessary, and giving added urgency to the hiring fair.
Meanwhile, the teachers’ union is lauding the district’s efforts to reach out to potential employees.
Ken Christensen, president of the Coquitlam Teachers Association, said efforts to ensure the district has staff to fulfill emerging needs is welcome.
“They need to do every thing they can. We are still in a position of teacher shortage generally in the province and that’s not likely to end any some soon.”
• The Human Resources career fair will be on Thursday, Nov. 29 from 6 to 8 p.m at Winslow Centre, 1100 Winslow Ave., Coquitlam. As many as 300 to 500 attendees are expected; people can bring a notepad if they want to take notes. The first 45 minutes will be made up of presentations, followed by breakout sessions for each job, such as caretakers, clerical, education assistants, teachers/TTOCs and trade.
