Employers and employees will be in Morinville next Wednesday to see how inclusive employment can help better their bottom lines.
About 500 job-seekers and employers will be at the Morinville Community Cultural Centre this Sept. 25 for the Indigenous & Inclusive Job Expo. The event is organized by the St. Albert and Morinville chambers of commerce and backed by the federal and provincial governments.
This is the first of three regional job fairs the St. Albert and Morinville chambers plan to host in the next 12 months to help people find jobs, said Shelly Nichol, executive director of the St. Albert & District Chamber of Commerce. While the event is open to everyone, this one has a particular focus on underrepresented groups such as new immigrants, Indigenous, disabled, and 2SLGBTQ+ persons, who have historically seen higher rates of unemployment compared to others.
“Diversifying your employee base and looking at different groups adds value to your business,” Nichol said, and brings new ideas and perspectives to your firm.
Guests at the job fair can meet up to 40 employers and support groups such as the St. Albert Public Library to learn about job opportunities and how to get hired, Nichol said. There will also be chances to win gift cards for St. Albert-area businesses.
Business owners, meanwhile, can meet new hires and participate in a workshop on how to address bias and create a more inclusive workplace.
Unconscious bias and racism make it tougher for some members of ethnic minorities to get jobs, research suggests. For example, one 2018 study of Canadian firms found that applicants with Chinese, Indian, or Pakistani names were 28 per cent less likely to get calls for an interview compared to ones with Anglo-Canadian names, even when they had equal qualifications.
Natasha Delany (née Saddleback), the founder of Indigenous Projects and Events and an exhibitor at the job expo, said she was always scared as a young adult when she applied for a job as she feared employers would toss her application upon reading her Indigenous-sounding name.
“Whenever I did get a call back, my immediate thought was if they could just hear me speaking — because I don’t have that typical Indigenous accent — they would know I was like them and maybe it would raise my chances of getting the job,” she said.
Nichol said some companies will ask employees to leave their names off their job applications specifically to avoid this type of bias. NorQuest College was developing virtual reality programs to help people take job interviews and visualize physical barriers in the workplace.
A diverse workforce reflects the community as a whole and can help your company find more customers, Nicol said. It only takes a little bit of effort to address the barriers Indigenous and other minority workers face, and those workers often end up as your most loyal employees.
“You make that investment in them, and they return it by investing in your corporation,” Nicol said.
The job fair runs from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sept. 25, with the employers-only workshop and networking event running from 8 a.m. to noon. Free bus service to the job fair will be available at St. Albert Centre starting at noon. Visit www.stalbertchamber.com to register.
