We’ve already endured the season’s first heat wave, school’s letting out and the focus for many students now shifts to summer jobs.
Many of the positions have long been listed and filled – the City of Barrie, for instance, starts the hiring for roles such as summer camp counsellor in the winter, as does the YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka.
They report that it’s become easier to fill vacancies since the pandemic when staff shortages forced organizations to cut back on their offerings, although a long-COVID impact lingers over the entire process.
For students who haven’t yet secured work, there are still opportunities. But students are reminded that the opportunities don’t just lie in the paycheque that lands in the bank account; it’s the development of skills that could well become integral in a future career.
“We’ve always got some postings,” says Cristan Cooper, talent acquisition specialist with the local Y.
The Y has a large geographic and service-area footprint locally, including aquatic services in Innisfil, Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, Midland and Gravenhurst. So while the 100 or so day-camp jobs and another 100 at Camp Kitchikewana are mostly spoken for, there are opportunities at the health and fitness locations.
Barrie, too, still has some positions to fill.
Observers say the path to the summer job has changed somewhat as a result of the pandemic, when it became difficult to find enough students to fill summer jobs.
“There’s actually been a rebound for students since the pandemic,” says Tammy Maheu Haines, Barrie’s recreation program supervisor. “What’s happened since the pandemic, though, is that we’ve had to lengthen the on-boarding.
“The students seem to be less in tune with the cadence from pre-pandemic … We’ve had to be a lot more patient with our on-boarding process.”
Traditionally, municipalities start the hiring process in January with interviews happening around March break, she says. The process has since been extended up to six weeks longer.
Despite that, Maheu Haines says she's happy with the overall process and the resulting crew of more 220 for day camps alone her department has hired for the summer.
The city’s pools also hire staff, such as lifeguards – which was also impacted by the pandemic. Given restrictions on gathering, lifeguard training programs were limited.
The Lifesaving Society has since lowered the mandatory age limit to 15 from 16, as training numbers returned to regular levels to help ensure the availability of the skilled workforce.
“We are seeing a rebound. The City of Barrie is very lucky to have a group of wonderful individuals who still want to work for us,” says Maheu Haines.
The city’s recreation department still has a need to staff active living fitness roles, such as trained fitness instructors and others to work in the fitness areas of the city’s three recreation centres.
Ruth Walker Scott, Simcoe County’s economic development officer, shares similar observations.
“The workforce landscape in Simcoe County is quite nuanced. Things have changed everywhere since COVID,” says Walker Scott, adding that there are still good opportunities in the county for new graduates and students planning to return to school in the fall.
Organizations hiring students and others are reminded that it remains a job seeker’s market, meaning employers need to understand what seekers are looking for when they set out to recruit workers.
The county addresses many of those issues at its annual Workforce Connect Conference for employers and human resources professionals held earlier in June, which was started during the pandemic.
The challenge now is to help students understand that a summer opportunity can lead to a career or, at least, help them to develop skills that could be integral to a career.
“COVID really did impact people’s soft-skills abilities” that result in a great customer service representatives, managers and professionals, says Walker Scott. “There’s so many transferable skills available in these summer positions.”
A student working as a flag person on a construction site managing traffic, for example, learns not just about the industry, but also how to interact with other workers as well as the project.
Walker Scott encourages job seekers to check out the Work In Simcoe County website.
