Ryan Girard is looking for a career change.
At 42, after 10 years of driving a truck for a living, his body is telling him he needs to find a different occupation.
So when he heard there was a WorkBC/Le Cercle Des Canadiens Français de Prince George hiring fair happening at École Franco-Nord he made sure to be one of the first to pass through the doors bright and early Wednesday, Aug. 27.
“I’m currently trying to get myself enrolled in a business management course and also some office administration stuff to bolster those skills, so I’m kind of dipping my toes into a different market altogether,” said Girard, while taking a break from the fair to check his email.
“(Truck driving) beats your body up a lot, lots of aches and pains, things like that. I’ve been fortunate enough to get myself enrolled with the Academy of Online Learning Centres and through those guys I found out the business management stuff. The online administration stuff kind of falls back to my old careers from way back when, doing DJing over a couple different decades for Shanadine Music.”
Girard’s work as a disc jockey working for his parents’ company in Prince George developed his skills in public speaking and when he found out about the job fair Tuesday night he made sure to get there as soon as it opened, knowing it could be an opportunity to make the right connections.
“I kind of feel a little unprepared to go in there, but I’m taking my time speaking to some people from the Service Canada (Job) bank and also the WorkBC folks,” he said.
“You get to speak to so many different people in different areas that you would never get the opportunity to, outside of a large group setting. When I was fresh out of high school you would never have these large hiring fairs to give those opportunities to the younger crowd. As a mature person, I’m in the same position where I’m able to reach out and network a little bit with some of these providers and see what’s out there.”
When Girard graduated from Prince George Secondary School in 2001 it was a much different labour market. Jobs in the city were plentiful for high school grads, but that’s changed.
“Everybody wanted to be somewhere involved in the forestry sector, and the work was great, but even over the past five years, myself being involved, watching all the different mills shut down — Houston doesn’t have a mill anymore and Bear Lake no longer has that big ol’ mill — it’s a changing world,” he said.
The fair featured 25 exhibitors representing job placement agencies, service providers, First Nations/government organizations and local businesses to meet face-to-face with jobseekers and the turnout was steady, with dozens of visitors checking out the booths during the four-hour event.
Blythe Roller, a facilitator for Workforce Development Consultants, a locally owned company, encourages job seekers to take advantage of professional agencies to narrow job searches and offer clients tools and tips they can use to impress potential employers.
“Job fairs are great for networking and if the job-seeker can come at it with the approach that it’s for networking rather than just looking for work and handing our resumes that’s very helpful,” said Roller. “We’re coming to place where help from employment services is going to be a necessity.”
While there are shortages of workers trained in technical job aspects, Roller says there’s also high demand for workers with "softer" skills.
“People are looking for good communications skills, adaptability, collaborative skills, some of the more personable skills rather than just a certificate,” said Roller. “We talk about anywhere jobs, being able to work at home, being able to work in a Toronto company in Prince George.”
He said advances in artificial intelligence have made computer searches more productive, which lends itself to homes become workplaces and he’s seeing more work possibilities for self-employed workers.
Youth (15-29-year-old) unemployment in Canada increased to 14.6 per cent in July 2025, the highest it’s been since 1998
“We have to be creative and the traditional job roles are changing, especially with youth, the youth unemployment rate is through the roof right now,” said Roller.
“Employment agencies try our best with displaced forest worker programs and retraining and it has an impact, but a lot of times what we face is people get laid off they often get severance packages and they live off of that for a time and by the time they’re ready to find employment again they’re in a crunch time. A lot of times the severance package can actually hinder a job search.”
Another WorkBC hiring fair is in the works for October at the Prince George Native Friendship Centre and the Hall of Ancestors Conference Centre.
Alexander Fegan, WorkBC’s Prince George/Mackenzie/Valemount employer and community co-ordinator, says he’d like TO make job fairs a quarterly event. He knows they produce positive results and the community needs promote making those connections.
“I would say that right now is possibly one of the hardest periods we’re experiencing, disproportionately in the North, and we’re being impacted much harder than other regions,” said Fegen.
“So putting on these events more frequently for the next six months to a year is something we’re going to be looking at in Prince George and in our smaller communities as well. We’ll also have some smaller-scale ones that are more individualized, focusing on maybe industries, so two or three employers or highlighting one specific employer.”
Fegen offered a piece of advice to people looking for work.
“Fake it until you make it,” he said. “Come there with your confidence. You don’t have to have the skills specifically for that job, but go in, be honest and transparent and be your true self, because that’s what’s going to get you recognized.”
WorkBC is limited to helping permanent residents or Canadian citizens and the involvement of Le Cercle Des Canadiens Français de Prince George as partners in the fair opened it up to new Canadians.
About 2,000 people in the city identify as francophones and at least 20 of them are actively seeking full-time jobs.
“This is the first time collaborating with WorkBC and the second time overall organizing a job fair in Prince George” said Abou Cisse, coordinator of Le Cercle’s francophone community project.
“We’re here facilitate the integration of newcomers that come to Prince George and right now we’re seeing a lot of demand for jobs. When they come to Canada, Prince George is their first destination and they don’t necessarily have the training or the diplomas they need, so we go through all that with the partners we have in town and end up with a job fair like this, so that they’re a little bit more qualified to be in the job market.
“We’re very happy with the turnout and very happy with the employers who supported the event, giving the opportunity for the people looking for a job.”
