Fort McMurray hiring fair comes to University of Calgary

Employers from Fort McMurray are hoping to capitalize on Calgary's high unemployment rate.

Ajob fair is underway this week at the University of Calgary's McEwan Centre topromote the northern Alberta city because they say they're having trouble hiring locally.

Alexis Foster, executive director of the Fort McMurray Chamber of Commerce, says thatcity is experiencing a shortage of workers because some people chose not to return after last year's devastating wildfire.

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And as the community rebuilds and activity picks back up, she says that's starting to take a toll.

"It has been detrimental because we are finding that unfortunately, some businesses aren't able to operate, some businesses are looking at maybe having to close their doors permanently," she told CBC News.

"We're also finding it's impacting the community as a whole. If we don't have those mental health professionals in our community, if we don't have those nurses, those are vital roles in the community that we need to ensure are filled in order for our community to have a quality of life that is adequate for us."

The jobs involve a number of sectors and range from positions for cleaning staff to registered nurses.

Calgary's Feroze Javad lost his job as an accountant during the downturn but managed to find another job in sales. Still, he says he's ready to move on by moving up to Fort McMurray.

"Just looking for a career change, pretty much," he said on what drew him to the event. "I checked for the cost of living online before coming here and it was a little bit less than Calgary, I felt."

Foster says a recent labour market survey showed around 1,500 new jobs will be created in next five years with the rebuild of the community.

"That's one of the reasons why we picked Calgary. We knew that there was lots of skilled workers here, and we know that you've been going through a hard time, same as Fort McMurray, for quite a while now because of the downturn," she said.

"We're hopeful we can work together and help grow Fort McMurray as well."

The job fair continues Wednesday.